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AMERICAN  LECTURES  ON  THE 
HISTOR  Y  OF  RELIGIONS 

FIFTH  SERIES-1903-1904 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE 
ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS 


BY 


GEORG  STEINDORFF,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Egyptology  at  the  University 
of  Leipzig 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 

Cbe  Ikntckcrbocftcr  press 
1905 


Copyright,  1905 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Ube  Iknicfserboclier  ipccee,  TIew  Ji^orh 


TO    MY    FRIEND 

EDWIN  BECHSTEIN 

IN    TOKEN    OF    HEARTY    GOOD-WILL 


630685 


ANNOUNCEMENT. 

THE  American  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Re- 
ligions are  delivered  under  the  auspices  of 
the  American  Committee  for  Lectures  on  the  His- 
tory of  Religions.  This  Committee  was  organised  in 
1892  for  the  purpose  of  instituting  "popular  courses 
in  the  History  of  Religions,  somewhat  after  the  style 
of  the  Hibbert  lectures  in  England,  to  be  delivered 
annually  by  the  best  scholars  of  Europe  and  this 
country,  in  various  cities,  such  as  Baltimore,  Bos- 
ton, Brooklyn,  Chicago,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
others." 

The  terms  of  association  under  which  the  Com- 
mittee exists  are  as  follows : 

I. — The  object  of  this  Association  shall  be  to  provide 
courses  of  lectures  on  the  history  of  religions, 
to  be  dehvered  in  various  cities. 
2. — The  Association  shall  be  composed  of  delegates 
from  Institutions  agreeing  to  co-operate,  or 
from  Local  Boards  organised  where  such  co- 
operation is  not  possible. 
3-— These  delegates — one  from  each  Institution  or 
Local  Board — shall  constitute  themselves  a 


vi  Announcement 


Council  under  the  name  of  the  "  American 
Committee  for  Lectures  on  the  History  of 
Reh'gions." 

4. — The  Council  shall  elect  out  of  its  number  a 
President,  a  Secretary,  and  a  Treasurer. 

5. — All  matters  of  local  detail  shall  be  left  to  the  In- 
stitutions or  Local  Boards,  under  whose  aus- 
pices the  lectures  are  to  be  delivered. 

6. — A  course  of  lectures  on  some  religion,  or  phase 
of  religion,  from  an  historical  point  of  view,  or 
on  a  subject  germane  to  the  study  of  religions, 
shall  be  delivered  annually,  or  at  such  inter- 
vals as  may  be  found  practicable,  in  the  differ- 
ent cities  represented  by  this  Association. 

7. — The  Council  {a)  shall  be  charged  with  the  selec- 
tion of  the  lecturers,  {d)  shall  have  charge  of 
the  funds,  {c)  shall  assign  the  time  for  the 
lectures  in  each  city,  and  perform  such  other 
functions  as  may  be  necessary. 

8. — Polemical  subjects,  as  well  as  polemics  in  the  treat- 
ment of  subjects,  shall  be  positively  excluded. 

9. — The  lecturer  shall  be  chosen  by  the  Council  at 
least  ten  months  before  the  date  fixed  for  the 
course  of  lectures. 

10. — The  lectures  shall  be  delivered  in  the  various 
cities  between  the  months  of  October  and 
June. 


Announcement  vii 


II. — The  copyright  of  the  lectures  shall  be  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Association. 
12. — One  half  of  the  lecturer's  compensation  shall  be 
paid  at  the  completion  of  the  entire  course, 
and  the  second  half  upon  the  publication  of 
the  lectures. 
13. — The  compensation  to  the  lecturer  shall  be  fixed 

in  each  case  by  the  Council. 
14. — The  lecturer  is  not  to  deliver  elsewhere  any  of 
the  lectures  for  which  he  is  engaged  by  the 
Committee,  except  with  the  sanction  of  the 
Committee. 
The   Committee    as   now    constituted    is   as    fol- 
lows: 

Francis  Brown  (Union  Theological  Seminary). 
Richard  J.  H.  Gottheil  (Columbia  University). 
W.  R.  Harper  (University  of  Chicago). 
Paul  Haupt  (Johns  Hopkins  University). 
Franklin  W.  Hooper  (Brooklyn  Institute). 
Morris  Jastrow  (University  of  Pa.),  Secretary, 
George  F.  Moore  (Harvard  University). 
John  P.  Peters  (New  York),  Treasurer. 
F.  K.  Sanders  (Yale  University). 
F.  C.  Southworth  (Meadville  Theological  Semi- 
nary). 

C.  H.  Toy  (Harvard  University),  Chairman. 

The  lecturers  in  the  course  of  American  Lectures 


viii  Announcement 


on  the  History  of  Religions  and  the  titles  of  their 
volumes  are  as  follows  : 

1 894-1 895— Prof.  T.  W.  Rhys-Davids,  Ph.D.,— Bud- 
dhism. 
1 896-1 897— Prof.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.D.,  LL.D.,— 

Religion  of  Primitive  Peoples. 
1 897-1 898— Rev.  Prof.  T.  K.  Cheyne,  D.D.,— Jewish 

Religious  Life  after  the  Exile. 
1 898- 1 899— Prof.  Karl  Budde,  D.D.,— Religion  of 
Israel  to  the  Exile. 
The  fifth  course  of  lectures,  contained  in  the  pre- 
sent volume,  was  delivered  in  the  spring  of  1904  by 
Prof.  Georg  Steindorff,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Egypt- 
ology in  the  University  of  Leipzig,  on  the  Religion 
of  Egypt.  Prof.  Steindorff  enjoys  a  high  reputa- 
tion as  a  scholar  and  has  had,  in  addition,  the 
advantage  of  practical  experience  in  investigations 
and  explorations  in  Egypt.  Among  his  larger  and 
better  known  works  are  his  Koptuche  Grammatik, 
Die  Bliitezeit  des  Pharaonenreichs,  and  Durch  die 
Lihysche  Wiiste  zur  Amonsoase.  Perhaps  the  work 
which  makes  him  best  known  to  people  at  large  is 
his  guide-book  to  Egypt  in  the  Baedeker  series.  He 
is  also  editor  of  the  series  Urkunden  des  dgyptischen 
Alterttims,  and,  together  with  Prof.  Erman  of  Ber- 
lin, conducts  the  Zeitschrift  fiir  dgyptische  Sprache 
und  Alter  tumskunde. 


Announcement  ix 


The  lectures  in  this  course  were  deHvered  before 
the  Lowell  Institute,  Boston ;  Yale  University,  New 
Haven ;  Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York ; 
Brooklyn  Institute,  New  York ;  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia ;  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
Baltimore ;  Theological  Seminary,  Meadville,  Pa. ; 
University  of  Chicago,  and,  by  special  arrangement, 
three  lectures  of  the  course  were  also  delivered 
before  the  University  of  California. 

John  P.  Peters,    \    Cotmnittee 
C.  H.  Toy,  I         on 

Morris  Jastrow,  )  Publication. 

April,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Lecture  I.     The   Egyptian   Religion   in   the 

Earliest  Times i 

Lecture'II.     The  Development  of  the  Egyp- 
tian Religion       ......       39 

Lecture  IIL     Temples  and  Ceremonies   .         .       74 

Lecture  IV.     Magic  Art. — The  Life   after 

Death 106 

Lecture  V.     Graves  and  Burials. — The  Egyp- 
tian Religion  outside  Egypt      .         .         .     138 

Index  .........     173 


XI 


THE  RELIGION  OF 
THE  ANCIENT  EGYPTIANS. 


LECTURE  I. 

The  Egyptian   Religion   in  the   EarHest 

Times. 

THERE  is  probably  no  people  in  the  world's 
history,  not  even  the  people  of  Israel,  into 
the  innermost  life  of  which  religion  penetrated  so 
deeply  as  was  the  case  with  the  ancient  Egyptians. 
To  describe  the  Egyptian  religion,  therefore,  is  to 
tell  the  most  important  part  of  the  story  of  ancient 
Egyptian  civilisation.  The  materials  now  at  the 
command  of  the  investigator  into  Egyptian  religion 
and  mythology,  as  into  the  details  of  Egyptian 
worship  and  ceremonial,  are  of  vast  extent  and 
are   daily  increasing. 

Formerly,  none  but  foreign  sources  were  open 
to  the  student  —  the  reports  of  Greek  classical 
writers,   such    as    Herodotus,    Diodorus,    Plutarch, 


2     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Horapollo,  together  with  the  bibHcal  narrative 
of  the  Old  Testament.  Now,  however,  the  de- 
ciphering of  the  hieroglyphic  characters  and  the 
systematic  exploration  of  the  Nile  valley  during 
the  course  of  the  last  century  have  made  native 
sources  accessible  and  intelligible  to  us  as  well. 
The  number  of  them  is  almost  incalculable.  There 
is  hardly  an  Egyptian  text  that  does  not  contain 
some  statement  bearing  on  ancient  Egyptian  re- 
ligion. Every  wall  of  a  temple  or  tomb,  every 
memorial  stone,  nearly  every  papyrus,  even  such 
simple  objects  as  limestone  fragments  or  potsherds 
covered  with  writing — all  give  us  help  of  greater  or 
less  importance  towards  understanding  the  religious 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  Egyptian  people.  It 
may  be  said  boldly  that  quite  nine-tenths  of  the 
Egyptian  writings  preserved  to  us  were  devoted  to 
some  religious  purpose,  and  that  of  the  remaining 
tenth  the  bulk  contains  more  or  less  information  on 
religion. 

But  in  spite  of  this  abundance  of  religious  texts 
and  descriptions,  of  figures  of  gods,  of  amulets, 
of  temples  and  tombs,  that  have  been  preserved 
to  us  from  ancient  Egypt,  our  knowledge  of  the 
Egyptian  religion  is  still  relatively  small;  and,  for 
the  present,  no  scientific  treatment  of  the  subject 
is  possible  which  does  not  leave  large  gaps  and  in 


In  the  Earliest  Times  3 

part  depend  on  hypothetical  constructions.  The 
causes  of  this  peculiar,  and  at  first  surprising,  fact 
are  very  various.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
whole  of  the  material  preserved  to  us  owes  its  ex- 
istence to  chance.  A  certain  part  of  the  religious 
literature  has  been  preserved  for  the  sole  reason  that 
it  was  copied  on  the  wall  of  such  and  such  a  tomb, 
or  contained  in  a  papyrus  deposited  with  the  dead 
in  his  last  resting-place.  But  other  religious  writ- 
ings of  equal  importance  have  been  lost,  because  no 
such  multiplication  of  copies  of  them  was  required 
by  any  custom.  Many  a  document,  again,  may  still 
slumber  beneath  the  arid  sand  of  the  desert,  await- 
ing the  hour  of  its  discovery. 

To  this  must  be  added  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  documents,  inscriptions,  and  papyri  which 
have  been  preserved  owe  their  existence  to  certain 
funeral  customs,  and  relate  to  the  life  hereafter. 
Thus  we  are  very  well  informed  on  the  "  Last 
Things";  but  of  the  numerous  legends  connected 
with  the  gods  which  were  current  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  which  in  many  instances  must  have  re- 
ceived literary  treatment  and  so  been  committed 
to  writing,  only  a  very  few  have  been  handed 
on  to  us,  and  those  few  in  a  fragmentary  con- 
dition. There  is  an  absence,  finally,  of  any  com- 
prehensive   account    of    Egyptian     philosophy  —  a 


4     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


defect  which  we  cannot  hope  to  see  remedied  by 
some  happy  accident,  since  no  such  account  ever 
existed,  any  more  than  in  the  case  of  Egyptian  his- 
tory, or  Egyptian  politics. 

To  these  deficiencies  of  external  tradition  must  be 
added  others  of  an  internal  order.  Those  religious 
writings  which  have  reached  us  present  very  great 
difficulties  of  interpretation  which  scientific  research 
will  not  surmount  for  a  long  time  to  come.  Many 
religious  works — I  will  only  mention  the  so-called 
Book  of  the  Dead — are  known  to  us  only  in  late 
editions  and  late  copies.  By  the  comparison  of 
different  copies  we  are  often  enabled  to  restore  a 
passage  to  its  original  form  ;  but  not  infrequently 
the  text  is  so  corrupt  that,  with  the  means  now  at 
our  disposal,  we  are  obliged  to  abandon  all  hope  of 
emendation.  Linguistic  difficulties  also  occur,  and 
sometimes  there  are  stumbling-blocks  in  the  subject- 
matter. 

The  consequence  is  that  while  a  great  number 
of  Egyptian  gods  are  known  to  us  by  name  and 
aspect,  while  we  know  in  what  shrines  and  by  what 
priests  they  were  worshipped,  their  true  character, 
the  significance  attached  to  them  by  priests  and 
people,  the  legends  that  clustered  round  their  per- 
sonality, are  largely  unknown  to  us.  Still,  for  all 
the  gaps  in  our  knowledge,  the  Egyptian  religion 


In  the  Earliest  Times  5 

possesses  abundance  of  interest  for  us :  it  is  the  re- 
h'gion  of  a  highly  civilised  people,  a  religion  which, 
like  the  whole  of  Egyptian  culture,  followed  its  own 
development  in  entire  independence  of  all  foreign 
influence,  a  reHgion  which  for  almost  four  thousand 
years  occupied  a  position  of  central  importance  in 
one  of  the  greatest  states  of  antiquity. 

But  before  I  enter  upon  my  main  task — that  of 
presenting  to  you  an  account  of  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tian faith — it  will  be  necessary  for  me,  in  order  to 
make  the  course  of  religious  development  more  easily 
intelligible,  to  give  first  a  short  sketch  of  ancient 
Egyptian  history,  or  at  least  of  its  most  important 
periods.  Following  Manetho,  an  Egyptian  priest 
who  wrote  an  historical  work  in  Greek,  and  who  was 
guided  on  this  point  by  native  tradition,  we  divide 
the  Egyptian  rulers,  from  Menes,  the  first  king,  down 
to  Alexander  the  Great,  into  thirty-one  Dynasties. 
These  correspond,  on  the  whole,  to  the  different 
royal  families  which  ruled  successively,  at  times 
simultaneously,  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  in  dealing  with  facts 
on  a  large  scale,  it  is  usual  to  combine  several  Dy- 
nasties into  larger  groups,  which  are  called  "Ages" 
or  "Kingdoms."  Thus,  to  select  three  of  the  most 
important  among  these  groups,  corresponding  to 
three  culminating  epochs  of  Egyptian  history,  we 


6     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


speak  of  an  "Old,"  a  "Middle,"  and  a  "New  King- 
dom." It  is  extremely  difficult  to  assign  exact  dates 
to  the  several  Dynasties,  or  even  to  the  reigns  of  par- 
ticular kings.  We  must  be  content  with  approximate 
dates,  so  far  as  the  earliest  period  is  concerned,  and 
bear  in  mind  that  the  figures  we  adopt  are  not  final, 
but  may  need  to  be  varied  by  as  much  as  a  hundred 
years  or  even  more.  It  is  not  until  we  reach  the 
Twelfth  Dynasty,  from  which  dates  have  come  down 
to  us  guaranteed  by  astronomical  evidence,  that  we 
find  ourselves  upon  chronologically  safe  ground. 

"  Egypt  is  a  gift  of  the  Nile."  This  phrase  of  the 
geographer  Hecataeus,  first  repeated  by  Herodotus 
and  afterwards  by  many  others,  expresses  the  true 
character  of  the  land  of  Egypt  with  inimitable 
brevity  and  appropriateness.  In  the  lofty  desert 
plateau  which  occupies  the  whole  north-east  por- 
tion of  the  African  Continent,  the  Nile  has  by  the 
long  labour  of  thousands  of  years  carved  itself  a 
valley  out  of  the  sandstone  and  limestone,  while  its 
regular  deposits  of  mud  have  made  the  lower  part 
of  this  valley,  Egypt  proper,  one  of  the  most  fertile 
regions  of  the  earth. 

In  primitive  ages  not  only  the  upper  Nile  valley, 
below  the  modern  Khartoum,  but  Egypt  as  well, 
was  peopled  by  African  negroes.  Their  language 
was  an  African  tongue  ;  their  religion  hardly  to  be 


In  the  Earliest  Times  7 

distinguished  from  the  rude  fetishism  practised  by 
so  many  African  tribes  of  to-day.  The  Egyptian 
peasant  tilled  his  field  with  hoe  and  plough  after 
the  subsidence  of  the  autumn  floods.  The  fens 
of  the  Delta  gave  pasture  to  numerous  herds  of 
cattle.  The  stagnant  branches  of  the  river  and 
the  stretches  of  swamp  which  extended  through 
wide  tracts  of  both  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  were 
fringed  with  thick  clumps  of  papyrus  and  tenanted 
by  hippopotami,  crocodiles,  and  waterfowl  in  great 
abundance.  To  these  wild  regions  the  Egyptian 
would  come  in  his  boat  of  bulrushes  to  subdue 
with  boomerang  and  harpoon  the  denizens  of  the 
marshes.  Or  else  he  would  climb  the  desert  mount- 
ains to  the  east  or  west  of  the  valley,  and  turn  his 
weapons  against  the  lion,  the  jackal,  or  the  hyena. 
Hard  necessity  educated  the  people  gradually  into 
civilisation  and  culture.  The  superabundance  of 
water  which  inundated  the  land  every  summer 
needed  to  be  divided  equally  among  the  fields.  For 
this  purpose  dams  and  canals,  sluices  and  embank- 
ments had  to  be  constructed.  Marshy  regions 
required  to  be  drained  and  transformed  into  arable 
land.  All  these  were  works  which  the  individual 
could  not  execute  unaided  ;  the  inhabitants  were 
compelled  to  band  themselves  together  in  large 
associations  and  place  themselves  under  the  orders 


8     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


of  a  common  head.  Thus  small  principalities  arose, 
governed  by  petty  chieftains. 

Such  is  the  stage  of  political  development  and 
civihsation  which  the  Egyptians  of  the  primitive 
age  must  have  reached  when  there  burst  upon  the 
land  a  flood  of  Bedouins,  streaming  across  the  Isth- 
mus of  Suez  from  Arabia,  the  ancestral  home  of 
the  Semites.  As  in  Mohammed's  day,  six  centuries 
after  Christ,  the  invaders  took  the  land  by  storm. 
The  African  population  were  unable  to  withstand 
the  Asiatics  ;  they  even  adopted  the  language  of  the 
strangers,  impressing  upon  it,  however,  the  stamp  of 
their  own  individuality.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Arabian  intruders  gladly  subjected  themselves  to 
the  doubtless  superior  civihsation  of  the  natives, 
and  with  great  rapidity  conquerors  and  conquered 
became  fused  into  a  single  people.  Nothing  remains 
in  later  ages  to  remind  us  of  this  prehistoric  Semitic 
conquest ;  it  is  solely  on  the  foundation  of  linguistic 
kinship  that  we  are  able  to  construct  an  hypotheti- 
cal account  of  the  events  which  I  have  just  roughly 
sketched.' 

In  that  early  period  there  were  formed,  out  of  the 

'  Cf.  Erman,  "DasVerhaltniss  des  Agyptischen  zu  den  semitischen 
Sprachen"  {Zeitsckrift  der  Deutschen  Morgenldndischen  Gesellschaft, 
xlvi.,  pp.  ()3  ff.),  and  "  Die  Flexion  des  agyptischen  Verbums  "  {Sitz- 
ungsbericht  der  Konigl.  Preussischen  Akademie  der  WissenscJiaften, 
1900,  pp.  350/; 


In  the  Earliest  Times  9 

various  small  principalities  into  which  the  land  was 
divided,  two  states  of  larger  dimensions :  a  Lower 
Egyptian  Kingdom  occupying  the  "North  Land," 
corresponding  to  the  Nile  Delta,  and  an  Upper 
Egyptian  Kingdom,  the  "  South,"  which  extended 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  modern  Cairo  up- 
river  as  far  as  the  rapids  of  Assuan.  The  chief  city 
of  the  North  Land  was  Behdet,  which  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  modern  Damanhur,  in  the  west  of  the 
Delta.  The  King  of  the  South,  on  the  other  hand, 
resided  at  Ombos,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Nile,  a 
little  to  the  north  of  the  modern  Luxor.  For  cent- 
uries these  two  states  existed  side  by  side,  each  in- 
dependent of  the  other,  till  at  last  they  became  fused 
into  a  single  empire.  Upper  Egypt  was  conquered 
by  Lower  Egypt.  The  capital  of  the  new  Empire 
was  probably  Hcliopolis,  situated  on  the  border  of 
the  two  states,  and  named  On  by  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians ;  a  city  which  at  the  same  time  became  the 
intellectual  metropolis  of  the  country.' 

^  For  the  above-mentioned  hypothesis,  that  before  the  division  of 
Egypt  into  the  dominions  of  the  kings  of  Buto  and  Eileithyiaspolis 
the  country  had  been  already  portioned  out  into  two  separate  king- 
doms with  the  capitals  Behdet  and  Ombos,  I  am  indebted  to  my 
friend  Professor  Kurt  Sethe  of  Gottingen.  It  rests  on  the  fact  that 
as  late  as  historic  times  Horus,  the  god  of  Behdet,  and  Set,  the  god 
of  Ombos,  were  still  worshipped  as  patrons  of  Lower  and  Upper 
Egypt  respectively,  on  certain  features  of  the  Horus-Set  legends,  on 
formulae  of  the  titles  of  the  Pharaoh  {e.g.,  the  title  "  Horus  who  is 


lo     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


We  cannot  determine,  even  approximately,  the 
length  of  time  during  which  this  unified  Egyptian 
empire  maintained  its  existence  under  the  sway  of  the 
Kings  of  the  Delta.  Gradually  the  bonds  of  empire 
became  loosened,  and  Egypt  was  once  more  divided 
into  two  states.  As  before,  one  of  these  comprised 
the  Delta,  the  other  the  upper  Nile  valley  as  far  as 
the  cataracts  of  Assuan.  The  capital  of  the  North 
Land  was  now  transferred  to  the  later  Buto,  in  the 
marshy  region  near  the  Mediterranean  coast ;  the 
kings  of  Upper  Egypt  took  up  their  residence  far 
to  the  southward,  in  the  city  of  Nekheb,  afterwards 
known  as  Eileithyiaspolis.  After  this  division,  again, 
it  would  seem  that  the  relations  between  the  Upper 
Egyptian  kings  of  Eileithyiaspolis  and  the  Lower 
Egyptian  kings  of  Buto  were  not  of  the  friendliest 
character.  Not  infrequently  wars  broke  out  in 
which  the  Upper  Egyptians  carried  "  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  the  Lower  Egyptians  who  are  in  Buto." 
From  these  struggles  Upper  Egypt  finally  emerged 
victorious  ;  the  Delta  was  subdued  by  force  of  arms, 
and  the  two  kingdoms  united  into  a  new  state.  We 
are  probably  not  wrong  in  identifying  Menes,  whom 
Egyptian  tradition,  followed  herein  by  the  Greek 
historians,  names  as  the  first  human  king  of  Egypt, 

standing  on  the  god  of  Omhos,''  dvriTcdXoov  v  TtsprspoS,  which -was 
formerly  erroneously  translated  as  "  the  golden  Horus"),  etc.  Com- 
pare Sethe,  Beitrdge  zur  dltesten   Geschichte  Agyptens,  p.  31. 


In  the  Earliest  Times  1 1 


with    the    ruler   who    accompHshcd    this   work   of 
reunion  (Ca.  3315  B.C.).' 

But  little  is  known  of  Menes  and  his  successors, 
the  kings  of  the  first  two  dynasties  (Ca.  3315-2895 
B.C.).  On  the  border  of  the  "  two  Lands  "  Menes 
founded  the  "  white  walls  "  of  the  later  Memphis,  a 
citadel  designed  to  overawe  the  conquered  Delta. 
The  kings  resided  at  Thinis,  a  city  of  Upper  Egypt, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  which,  near  the  modern 
Nakada,  as  well  as  farther  north  near  the  sacred  city 
Abydos,  their  modest  tombs  were  discovered  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  last  century. 

The  Third  Dynasty  (Ca.  2895-2840  B.C.)  transferred 
the  royal  residence  northward  to  Memphis.  Here 
we  fix  the  beginning  of  the  Old  Kingdom,  which 
comprises  the  dynasties  from  the  third  to  the  sixth, 
and  is  placed  by  us  in  the  period  2840-2360  B.C. 
It  is  an  epoch  of  great  power,  in  which  Egypt  at- 
tained a  culminating  point  in  its  civilisation  and  art. 
From  this  period  date  also  the  Great  Pyramids,  espe- 
cially the  Pyramids  of  Ghizeh,  which  owe  their 
existence  to  the  three  famous  kings  of  the  Fourth 
Dynasty,  Cheops,  Chephren,  and  Mycerinus.  For 
this  reason  the  Old  Kingdom  has  also  been  named 
the  "  Age  of  the  Pyramids." 

>  As  to  the  dates  of  Egyptian  history  compare  Eduard  Meyer, 
Aegyptische  Chronologic  (Berlin,  1904). 


12     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

Towards  the  end  of  the  Sixth  Dynasty  the  empire 
is  disintegrated  ;  internal  disorders  break  out,  which 
last  until  the  princes  of  the  Eleventh  Dynasty — a 
family  sprung  from  Thebes  in  Upper  Egypt — suc- 
ceed in  reuniting  Egypt  and  restoring  settled  gov- 
ernment (Ca.  2160-2000  B.C.).  With  the  rulers  of 
the  Twelfth  Dynasty,  who  bear  the  names  Amenemes 
and  Sesostris,  there  begins  a  new  era  of  prosperity 
for  the  country — the  Middle  Kingdom.  The  dura- 
tion of  this  period  is  taken  to  be  from  2000  to  about 
1790  B.C.  The  rulers  of  this  brilHant  epoch  con- 
quered the  upper  part  of  the  Nile  valley,  or  Nubia, 
and  constructed  great  works,  such  as  the  celebrated 
Labyrinth.  Literature,  too,  flourished  so  greatly  in 
this  age,  that  the  Middle  Kingdom  was  regarded  by 
later  generations  as  the  classical  period  par  excellence 
of  ancient  Egyptian  authorship. 

A  fresh  disruption  of  the  state  brought  the  Mid- 
dle Kingdom  to  an  inglorious  end.  To  this  period 
belongs  an  event  of  great  importance  in  religious  as 
well  as  pohtical  history :  the  invasion  of  the  land  by 
hordes  of  Semitic  Bedouins,  who  came  from  the 
Syrian  desert  under  the  leadership  of  the  Hyksos  or 
"Shepherd  Kings."  Taking  advantage  of  Egypt's 
political  weakness  they  possessed  themselves  of  the 
country  "  without  striking  a  blow,"  and  held  it  for 
a  century  (1680-1580  B.C.). 


In  the  Earliest  Times  13 


It  was  by  Theban  princes  that  the  ancient  state 
was  again  restored  and  the  Asiatic  invaders  driven 
out  of  the  Nile  valley  after  a  series  of  conflicts  ex- 
tending through  many  years.  Here  begins  a  new 
period  of  Egyptian  greatness, — the  New  Kingdom 
as  we  often  term  it, — comprising  the  dynasties  from 
the  eighteenth  to  the  twentieth,  and  extending  from 
1580  to  1 100  B.C.  The  great  Pharaohs  of  the  Eigh- 
teenth Dynasty,  Amenophis  and  Thutmosis,  lead 
their  armies  into  Asia,  penetrate  as  far  as  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates,  and  make  the  whole  of  Syria  an 
Egyptian  province. 

Close  intercourse  was  thus  established  between 
Egypt  and  the  civilisation  of  the  East,  Assyria  and 
Babylon  in  particular,  as  well  as  with  the  civilisa- 
tion known  as  the  Mycenaean  ;  and  this  intercourse 
exerted  a  great  influence  on  the  whole  life  of  the 
people,  their  politics  no  less  than  their  art.  Under 
the  kings  of  the  Nineteenth  Dynasty,  a  Sethos  and 
a  Ramses,  Egypt  in  a  great  measure  lost  its  position 
as  a  great  power;  and  in  spite  of  several  military 
successes  the  Ramessidae  of  the  Twentieth  Dynasty 
were  unable  to  arrest  the  decline.  At  last  the 
powerful  high-priests  of  the  Theban  divinity,  Amon, 
ascended  the  throne.  They  in  turn  were  displaced 
by  Libyan  commanders  of  mercenary  troops,  who 
maintained  themselves  in  power  for  about  a  century. 


14     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Gradually  the  state  fell  once  more  into  decay, 
and  dissolved  into  small  principalities.  These, 
again,  were  destroyed  by  the  Negro  kings  of 
Ethiopia  (Nubia),  who  descended  from  the  south 
and  conquered  the  Nile  valley,  which  they  held  till 
they  were  driven  out  of  the  land  by  the  great  kings 
of  Assyria,  and  Egypt  became  for  some  time  a 
province  of  the  Assyrian  empire.  This  period  of 
foreign  dominion,  comprising  the  dynasties  from  the 
twenty-second  to  the  twenty-fifth,  during  which  the 
throne  of  the  Pharaohs  was  occupied  successively 
by  Libyans,  Ethiopians,  and  Assyrians,  is  one  of 
the  most  melancholy  epochs  in  ancient  Egyptian 
history. 

At  last  Prince  Psammetichus  of  Sals  succeeded 
in  shaking  off  the  Assyrian  yoke,  ended  the  rule 
of  the  petty  native  princes,  and  reunited  Egypt. 
Under  him  and  his  successors  of  the  Twenty-sixth 
Dynasty  (663-525  B.C.)  the  land  enjoyed  a  new  era 
of  prosperity.  Trade  flourished,  thanks  to  the  rela- 
tions established  with  Greece,  and  the  arts  received 
a  new  impetus.  A  tendency  had  already  set  in 
during  the  rule  of  the  orthodox  Ethiopians  to- 
ward the  imitation  of  the  models  supplied  by  the 
classic  period  of  Egyptian  art,  the  Old  Kingdom, 
and  the  revival  of  early  forms.  Nor  was  art  alone 
affected  by  this  movement ;  in  the  worship  of  the 


In  the  Earliest  Times  15 


gods  and  the  early  kings,  in  literature,  in  the  or- 
thography of  the  inscriptions,  in  the  titles  of  the 
officials  we  find  the  same  imitation  both  of  the  Old 
and  the  Middle  Kingdom  ;  so  that  the  period  of  the 
Twenty-sixth  Dynasty  may  justly  be  termed  the 
"  Egyptian  Renaissance." 

But  with  the  year  525  B.C.  the  independence  of 
Egypt  came  to  an  end.  The  land  was  conquered  by 
Cambyses,  and  became  a  Persian  province  until  the 
year  332,  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Alexander 
the  Great.  The  world-empire  of  the  latter  broke  up 
after  its  founder's  early  death,  and  Egypt  finally  came 
into  the  possession  of  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  and 
his  successors,  known  as  the  Ptolemies  or  Lagidse. 
Under  them  the  valley  of  the  Nile  became  for  three 
more  centuries  the  seat  of  a  brilliant  monarchy,  till 
at  length,  torn  by  civil  wars  and  involved  in  the  in- 
ternal troubles  of  Rome,  it  passed,  after  the  battle 
of  Actium,  into  the  hands  of  Augustus.  Both  the 
Ptolemies  and  the  Roman  emperors  posed  before 
the  native  population  as  the  successors  of  the 
Pharaohs,  and  kept  up  the  fiction  of  a  national 
Egyptian  state.  They  respected  the  religious  views 
of  their  subjects,  and  even  engaged  in  the  construc- 
tion of  great  temples.  But  the  intellectual  force  of 
the  people  was  destroyed ;  the  old  national  life 
had  died  out ;  and   there   was   little   to    hinder  the 


1 6     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


triumphal  entry  of  Christianity  into  the  land  of  the 
Pharaohs. 

He  who  would  understand  the  religious  thoughts 
and  feelings  which  prevailed  among  the  Egyptians 
of  the  "  historical  period  "  must  turn  his  gaze  back- 
ward and  seek  acquaintance  with  the  worship  of 
those  dark  primeval  ages  when  the  "  two  Lands," 
Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  were  still  independent 
neighbours,  and  as  yet  there  was  no  union  of  all 
Egypt  into  a  single  state.  The  Semitic  immigrants 
had  assimilated  the  superior  civilisation  of  the  Afri- 
can population  and  at  the  same  time  accepted  their 
rude  religion.  You  will  ask,  perhaps,  whether  they 
did  not  also  retain  the  divinities  of  their  desert  home, 
whether  some  of  these  were  not  deemed  worthy  of 
worship  by  the  conquered  Egyptians — whether,  in  a 
word,  ancient  Semitic  elements  did  not  gain  a  footing 
in  the  primitive  religion  of  Egypt.  To  this  question 
we  can  return  no  scientifically  satisfactory  answer. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  play  with  etymologies  and  on  the 
strength  of  them  to  set  down  particular  Egyptian 
divinities  as  Semitic,  or,  again,  to  eject  summarily 
from  the  Egyptian  Pantheon  all  the  members  of  it 
which  do  not  fit  into  a  superficial  scheme.  Such 
hypotheses,  however,  are  none  the  more  probable 
for  their  boldness ;  and  we  shall  do  well,  provision- 


In  the  Earliest  Times  17 


ally  at  least,  to  abstain  altogether  from  speculations 
on  the  possibly  Asiatic  or  Semitic  origin  of  any  ele- 
ments whatever  in  the  primitive  Egyptian  religion. 

So  much  only  may  be  regarded  as  certain, — 
that  in  the  beginning  there  was  no  uniformity  of 
religion  in  Egypt.  Every  city,  every  town,  every 
hamlet,  possessed  its  own  protecting  deity,  its  own 
patron.  To  him  the  inhabitants  turned  in  the  hour 
of  need  or  danger,  imploring  help  ;  by  sacrifice  and 
prayer  they  sought  to  win  his  favour.  In  his  hand 
lay  the  weal  and  woe  of  the  community  ;  he  was  the 
"  Lord  of  the  district,"  the  "  urban  god,"  as  he  is 
named  in  the  texts,  one  who,  like  a  secular  prince  or 
duke,  controlled  the  destiny  of  those  committed  to 
his  care,  and  protected  their  hfe,  their  goods  and 
chattels  against  external  foes.  His  goodwill  pro- 
cured blessings  for  men  ;    his  wrath  was  destruction. 

So  closely  was  the  deity  linked  to  his  district  that 
frequently  he  even  lacked  a  name  of  his  own,  and 
was  designated  simply  by  the  name  of  the  locality 
which  was  under  his  rule  and  in  which  he  manifested 
himself.  Thus  the  local  deity  of  the  Upper  Egyp- 
tian city  Edfu  was  spoken  of  shortly  as  "  he  of 
Edfu,"  the  female  saint  of  Elkab  was  "  the  lady  of 
Elkab."  As  a  rule,  it  is  true,  each  local  god  had  a 
special  name.  The  god  of  Memphis  was  named 
Ptah;   the  patron  saint  of  the  cataract  district  near 


1 8     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Elephantine  was  Khnum  (Chnubis) ;  the  patron 
saint  of  Ombos,  near  Nakada  in  Upper  Egypt,  bore 
the  name  Setekh  or  Set;  the  god  of  Koptos,  on 
the  caravan  route  from  the  Nile  to  the  Red  Sea,  was 
known  as  Min ;  the  guardian  deity  honoured  in  the 
Fayoum,  the  region  of  Lake  Moeris,  was  called 
Sobek.  Among  female  divinities  we  may  mention 
Hathor,  the  name  borne  by  the  "  Lady  of  Dendera," 
Neit,  the  goddess  of'  Sais  in  the  Delta,  Sekhmet, 
the  patroness  of  a  suburb  of  Memphis.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  repeat  to  you  the  names  of  all  the  local 
divinities ;  it  would  be  necessary  for  me  to  go 
through  the  entire  list  of  ancient  Egyptian  localities, 
and  that  would  take  us  too  far  afield. 

As  to  the  significance  of  the  names  borne  by  these 
divinities,  it  is  only  in  a  few  cases  that  we  are  able  to 
state  anything  with  certainty.  Thus  we  know,  for 
example,  that  Sekhmet  means  "  the  powerful  one." 
The  etymology,  too,  of  these  names  is  unknown  to 
us  in  most  cases.  If,  for  instance,  the  name  of  the 
god  Piah  has  been  connected  with  the  Hebrew 
patach,  "  to  open"  or  "  to  carve,"  and  explained  as 
meaning  "  the  carver  "  or  "  the  artist  "  ;  if,  again, 
the  name  of  the  god  Horus  has  been  interpreted 
in  accordance  with  the  Egyptian  language  as  "  the 
lofty  one  "  or  "the  heavenly  one" — all  this  is  more 
than   problematical.      The   theologians   of    ancient 


In  the  Earliest  Times  19 

Egypt,  moreover,  applied  themselves  in  their  day  to 
the  study  of  these  etymologies,  for  which  they  had 
a  great  predilection,  and  by  playing  upon  words 
endeavoured  at  once  to  explain  the  names  of  the 
gods  and  set  forth  their  attributes.  Thus  Amon, 
the  name  borne  by  the  god  of  the  later  empire,  is 
interpreted  by  them  as  "  the  hidden  one,"  "  the 
mysterious  one,"  from  the  root  'emen,  "to  be  hidden"; 
and  even  Plutarch  says,  in  his  work  De  hide,  that 
according  to  Manetho  the  name  'A}xovv  signifies  ro 
ueKpvfxfxivov  not  rtjv  upv^iv,  "  that  which  is  con- 
cealed and  concealment."  The  theologians  doubt- 
less had  in  mind  a  divinity  who  early  appeared  in 
their  inner  or  secret  doctrine— the  god  "whose 
name  is  hidden " ;  but  the  original  meaning  of 
Amon  cannot  by  any  means  be  regarded  as  thus 
made  known  to  us. 

Originally  the  mission  of  these  guardian  deities 
was  exhausted  in  the  protection  of  their  cities,  out- 
side of  which  their  power  ended.  But  with  refer- 
ence to  many  of  them  we  find  a  deepening  or 
expanding  of  religious  ideas  at  quite  an  early  period. 
Particular  functions  of  their  nature  were  brought 
into  special  prominence.  Thus  Amon,  who  was 
worshipped  at  Thebes,  was  a  god  of  fertility  and 
generation;  the  god  Min  of  Koptos,  whom  the 
Greeks    identified'  with    their    Pan,   protected    the 


20     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


herds  and  the  roads,  especially  the  desert  track 
leading  from  Koptos  through  the  mountains  to  the 
Red  Sea;  the  "mighty"  Sekhmet  of  Memphis  was 
regarded  chiefly  as  a  terrible  goddess  of  war  who 
annihilated  her  enemies;  with  Hathor  of  Dendera 
the  stress  was  more  on  the  pleasant  side  of  her 
character,  and  she  was  honoured  as  a  goddess  of 
love  and  festivity. 

More  especially  were  these  local  deities,  in  many 
cases,  connected  with  the  great  powers  of  nature, 
particularly  the  heavenly  bodies.  Thus  Thout,  the 
local  god  of  Shmun  or  Hermupolis,  whom  the 
Greeks  identified  with  Hermes,  was  regarded  as 
a  god  of  the  moon,  and  appears  as  such  in  the 
venerable  Pyramid  texts.  He  was  deemed  to  have 
appointed  the  seasons  and  the  order  of  nature, 
for  which  reason  he  was  also  looked  upon  as  the 
inventor  of  writing  and  language,  as  the  creator  of 
time  and  measure,  as  the  god  of  learning.  Above 
all,  a  great  number  of  local  divinities  were  connected 
with  the  greatest  luminary  of  the  heavens,  the  sun, 
and  represented  as  sun-gods  in  quite  the  earliest 
ages.  But  in  the  case  of  one  of  the  most  widely 
worshipped  and  most  national  gods  of  Egypt,  Horus, 
who  is  found  as  a  local  divinity  in  several  different 
Egyptian  cities,  and  who  was  worshipped  every- 
where as  god  of  the  sun,  the  course  of  religious  de- 


In  the  Earliest  Times  21 


velopment  was  probably  of  another  kind.  We  shall 
shortly  have  occasion  to  treat  the  subject  fully. 

Besides  the  great  "  urban  deities,"  there  was  a 
not  inconsiderable  number  of  minor  gods,  spirits, 
and  dcemons,  who  were  able  to  benefit  or  injure  men 
on  particular  occasions,  whose  favour,  therefore,  was 
much  sought  after.  Thus  worship  was  paid  to  cer- 
tain benignant  goddesses  who  succoured  women  in 
their  hour  of  need,  and  could  hasten  or  retard  de- 
livery. There  were  also  fairies  who  were  believed 
to  visit  the  cradles  of  new-born  infants  "  in  order 
to  decide  their  fate."  Exceptional  popularity  was 
enjoyed  by  the  little  grotesque  god  Bes.  He  was  sup- 
posed to  have  come  to  Egypt  from  Punt,  the  legend- 
encircled  land  of  frankincense,  and  his  protecting 
care  was  over  perfumes,  rouge,  the  mirror,  and  other 
articles  of  the  toilet. 

Equipped  with  higher,  superhuman  power,  the 
deity  works  upon  men  within  a  limited  sphere,  and 
receives  in  return  their  gifts,  their  sacrifices.  But 
he  also  manifests  himself  under  a  definite  form.  As 
the  human  soul  dwells  in  the  visible  body,  so  also 
the  godhead  makes  his  abode  in  particular  objects. 
As  a  rule  it  is  in  stones,  trees,  pillars,  and  animals 
that  the  gods  choose  their  residence.  The  local  god 
of  the  Delta-city  Tetu,  the  later  Busiris,  was  a  rough 
stake.     The  god  of  the  highways,  Min  of  Koptos, 


22     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


likewise  revealed  himself  in  a  stake  or  in  a  heap  of 
stones,  which  latter  was  probably  set  by  the  way- 
side, and  may  well  have  received  a  new  stone  from 
the  hand  of  every  passer-by,  as  is  now  the  custom 
among  the  Bedouins,  A  Hathor  dwelt  in  a  syca- 
more, a  nameless  dcemon  in   an   olive-tree. 

But  it  was  more  common  to  conceive  of  the  deity 
as  an  animal.  Thus  the  water- god  Sobek,  the  patron 
of  the  lake  district  of  the  Fayoum,  manifested  him- 
self as  a  crocodile  ;  the  god  of  Mendes  appeared  to 
the  faithful  as  a  he-goat ;  similarly,  a  he-goat  was 
the  embodiment  of  Khnum,  the  god  of  the  cataract 
district.  Amon  of  Thebes  took  the  shape  of  a  ram 
with  downward-curving  horns  that  covered  his  ears. 
Wep-wet,  the  god  of  Siut,  was  a  wolf ;  the  moon-god, 
Thout  of  Hermupolis  was  a  baboon  or  an  ibis. 
Many  gods  appeared  in  the  form  of  hawks ;  the  sun- 
god  Horus,  the  moon-god  Khons  of  Thebes,  the  god 
Montu  who  was  worshipped  in  a  part  of  Thebes  and 
in   Hermonthis. 

The  various  local  goddesses  were  imagined  by 
preference  as  dwelling  in  cats,  lionesses,  vultures, 
or  snakes:  thus  Sekhmet  of  Memphis  and  Pekhet 
of  Speos  Artemidos  (near  Minjeh)  were  lionesses-, 
the  goddess  of  Bubastis  a  cat.  Hathor  of  Dendera 
bore  the  likeness  of  a  cow ;  Mut  of  Thebes  and 
Nekhbet,  the  goddess  of   Elkab,  appeared  as  vul- 


In  the  Earliest  Times  23 


tures ;  the  goddess  of  Buto  assumed  the  form  of 
a  snake,  though  she  was  also  worshipped  as  an 
ichneumon  or  as  a  shrew-mouse.  It  is  thus  a 
fully  developed  fetishism  that  wc  have  to  deal 
with. 

These  crude  notions  about  the  gods  may  at  first 
sight,  perhaps,  strike  us  as  peculiar  and  unworthy  of 
a  civilised  people.  When  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
first  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Egyptians,  they, 
too,  shook  their  heads  over  this  conception  of  deity 
and  turned  it  into  ridicule.  And  yet  similar  notions 
are  to  be  met  with  in  the  case  of  other  civilised  peo- 
ples, both  among  the  Semites  and  in  the  oldest  Greek 
religion.  As  you  are  doubtless  aware,  the  Semites 
also  worshipped  the  deity  in  trees,  in  stones,  the 
so-called  masseba,  in  pillars,  the  ashcra,  as  also  in 
animals.  And  as  for  the  Greeks,  we  know  that 
Hermes,  the  god  of  pastures  and  highways,  revealed 
himself  in  a  heap  of  stones  exactly  as  did  his  Egyp- 
tian counterpart,  the  god  Min.  We  know,  too,  that 
Apollo  revealed  himself  in  the  guise  of  a  wolf,  Ar- 
temis as  a  she-bear,  Hera,  the  consort  of  Zeus,  as  a 
cow.  We  need  but  call  to  mind  the  Homeric  epithet 
/3oG5;rz?  "  the  cow-eyed."  And  when  we  are  told  that 
the  sacred  bird  of  Zeus  was  an  eagle,  that  of  Aphro- 
dite a  dove,  that  of  Athena  an  owl,  the  meaning  is 
only    that    these    divinities    originally    manifested 


24     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


themselves  to  their  worshippers  under  these  animal 
forms.* 

One  step  in  advance  of  this  crude  fetishism  was 
taken  by  the  Egyptians  somewhere  about  the  Second 
Dynasty,  when  they  began  to  represent  their  deities 
in  human  form.  A  god  v/ould  now  appear  with 
human  limbs.  He  wore  the  same  clothing  as  the 
Egyptians  themselves  :  a  simple  tunic,  behind  which, 
as  in  the  dress  of  the  earliest  rulers,  there  hung 
down  the  long  tail  of  an  animal.  His  head  was 
adorned  with  a  helmet,  a  crown,  or  with  lofty  plumes. 
As  the  symbol  of  his  power  he  carried  a  sceptre  and 
general's  staff ;  the  goddesses  carried  in  their  hands 
long  papyrus-stalks. 

This  new  conception  of  deity  also  reacted  upon 
the  old  fetishistic  ideas  and  modified  them.  The 
sacred  stakes  were  transformed  into  images  of  the 
gods  in  human  form  —  a  transformation  usually 
effected  by  giving  the  stake  the  appearance  of  a 
body  swathed  in  bandages.  It  was  thus,  in  all 
probability,  that  the  image  of  Min  had  its  origin, 
and  probably  that  of  the  Memphian  Ptah  as  well. 
Even  those  deities  which  were  conceived  of  as  ani- 
mals were  now  transferred  to  human  forms,  except 
that  the  place  of  the  human  head  was  taken  by  the 
head  of  the  animal  sacred  to  the  god.     Sobek  was 

1  Cf.  Ed.  Meyer,  Geschrifte  des  Aliertums,  ii.,  §g  64,  65. 


In  the  Earliest  Times  25 


represented  as  a  man  with  the  head  of  a  crocodile, 
Thout  with  the  head  of  an  ibis,  other  gods  with 
the  heads  of  sparrow-hawks ;  the  goddess  Sekhmet 
received  a  lion's  head,  Heket  that  of  a  frog.  Ex- 
travagant and  absurd  as  all  this  seems  to  us,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  both  in  the  statues  and  in  the  bas- 
reliefs  of  animal-headed  gods  the  artists  shewed  ad- 
mirable skill  in  contriving  the  transition  from  the 
animal  head  to  the  human  body.  For  the  rest,  the 
Egyptians  still  retained  the  old  crude  notions  about 
their  deities,  which  they  portrayed  in  the  form  of 
their  fetishes. 

But  besides  the  local  divinities  imagined  in  animal 
shape,  there  were  other  animals  which  were  wor- 
shipped as  gods  and  made  the  centre  of  special  cults. 
Particularly  was  this  the  case  with  those  animals 
which  aroused  the  admiration  of  the  Egyptian 
peasant  by  their  more  than  human  strength.  Of 
such  there  are  two  the  worship  of  which  began  very 
early  and  continued  to  the  latest  period :  the  di- 
vine Mnevis-buU  of  Hehopolis  and  the  Apis-bull  of 
Memphis.  The  latter,  so  the  Egyptians  related, 
was  engendered  by  a  flash  of  light  which  came  down 
from  heaven  and  impregnated  a  cow  that  never 
afterwards  produced  any  more  young.  He  was 
black  with  white  spots.  On  his  forehead  he  had  a 
white  triangle,  on  his  right  side  the  figure  of  the 


26     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


crescent-moon  ;  on  his  back  he  generally  wore  a  red 
cloth.  The  priests  exercised  themselves  in  theo- 
logical speculations  in  which  they  sought  to  estab- 
lish a  connexion  between  this  highly  regarded  bull 
and  Ptah.the  local  divinity  of  Memphis  ;  the  former, 
so  they  concluded,  was  the  son  of  the  latter,  or,  to 
use  their  mystic  language,  a  "  living  repetition  "  of 
Ptah. 

So  far  I  have  laid  continual  stress  on  the  particu- 
larism of  the  Egyptian  religion,  and  have  pointed 
out  that  the  original  state  of  things  was  one  in 
which  each  locality  had  its  own  tutelary  god.  Yet 
at  the  same  time  the  Egyptians  possessed  a  definite 
stock  of  common  religious  ideas,  the  intellectual 
heritage  of  the  nation  just  as  much  as  the  common 
language  which  every  Egyptian  spoke.  Thus,  in 
spite  of  all  political  disunion,  the  whole  people, 
without  distinction  of  locality,  believed  in  definite 
superhuman  beings,  manifesting  themselves  in  nat- 
ure. Among  these  was  the  sun-god  Horus.  He 
was  universally  imagined  in  the  likeness  of  a  fal- 
con with  brilliant  plumage,  soaring  in  the  heavens 
and  dispensing  light  to  the  world.  But  in  particu- 
lar places  this  heavenly  god  entered  into  closer 
relations  with  men  ;  in  such  instances  he  has  under- 
taken the  special  care  of  a  smaller  human  commun- 
ity, has,  in  short,  become  a  local  god.     Accordingly, 


In  the  Earliest  Times  27 


Horus,  who  originall ;r  dwelt  only  on  the  horizon, 
occurs  again  as  protecting  deity  in  various  cities. 
It  was  the  same  with  the  water-god  Sobek ;  through- 
out Egypt  he  was  known  as  a  dcBinon  residing  in  the 
waters,  who  revealed  himself  to  man  in  the  form  of 
a  crocodile.  But  he  received  special  honour  and 
the  rank  of  a  local  divinity  in  cities  the  weal  and 
woe  of  which  were  dependent  upon  water — in  the 
lake  region  of  the  Fayoum,  on  the  islands  of  Gebelen 
and  Ombos  in  Upper  Egypt,  or  at  Khenu,  a  city 
situated  near  the  many  whirlpools  of  the  modern 
Silsile.  In  the  same  way  the  different  forces  of 
nature  became  local  gods  in  many  instances  and 
received  special  homage. 

We  have  thus  accounted  in  one  way  for  the  fact 
that  the  cult  of  one  and  the  same  god  is  found 
in  different  cities.  But  this  fact  is  also  to  be  ex- 
plained in  part  by  migrations  which  took  place  in 
the  earliest  ages.  Let  us  imagine  the  inhabitants 
of  a  particular  locality  leaving  their  home  and  set- 
tling in  a  new  region.  They  will  certainly  take 
their  local  god  with  them  and  prepare  him  a  sanctu- 
ary in  their  new  abode.  Again,  doubtless  men  re- 
marked that  a  certain  god  protected  his  district 
with  a  strong  hand,  that  he  showered  benefits  on 
its  inhabitants  and  performed  miracle  on  miracle 
in  their  midst.     Other   places  would  then  resolve 


28     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


on  pilgrimages  to  this  great  god,  or  even  build 
him  a  new  house,  set  up  his  image  in  it,  and  offer 
sacrifices  to  him,  in  order  to  participate  in  his 
mighty  favour.  Thus  gods  came  to  live  in  cities 
where  they  were  not  native,  and,  taking  their  place 
by  the  side  of  the  local  divinities  proper,  acquired 
fresh  circles  of  worshippers,  or  even  became  them- 
selves patrons  and  guardians  of  their  new  abode. 

When  the  inhabitants  of  a  place  lived  at  peace 
with  their  neighbours  and  kept  up  a  close  and 
friendly  intercourse  with  them,  their  respective  di- 
vinities would  naturally  have  their  share  in  these 
amicable  relations.  Like  men,  they  paid  and  re- 
ceived visits  on  particular  days ;  indeed,  the  temple 
of  a  city  god  contained  a  chapel  for  the  special  use 
of  foreign  divinities,  where  the  latter  were  wor- 
shipped according  to  their  own  rites.  Thus  the 
local  god,  while  remaining  the  chief  god  of  a  dis- 
trict, was  by  no  means  the  only  divinity  to  whom 
the  inhabitants  paid  homage.  Side  by  side  with 
him,  and  regarded  in  a  manner  as  his  guests,  were 
other  deities  who  likewise  received  divine  honours. 
And  something  of  the  same  kind  took  place  when 
several  smaller  localities,  each  possessing  a  patron 
of  its  own,  became  merged  into  a  larger  unit :  the 
old  gods  would  then  necessarily  possess  in  the  new 
community  a  centre  of  worship. 


In  the  Earliest  Times  29 


The  priests  early  endeavoured  to  introduce  order 
among  the  different  gods  thus  domiciled  in  a  city 
and  to  determine  their  relative  rank.  For  reasons 
which  remain  unknown  to  us  they  grouped  them  in 
Triads  or  threes.  This  was  generally  done  by  as- 
signing to  the  chief  god  a  goddess  as  his  wife  and 
to  the  pair  a  third  god  as  their  son.  Thus  in  Thebes 
the  principal  god,  Amon,  was  accompanied  by  a 
goddess,  Mut,  "  the  Mother,"  and  her  son,  the  moon- 
god  Khons.  In  Memphis  the  worship  received  by 
Ptah,  the  patron  of  the  city,  was  shared  by  the 
goddess  Sekhmet  as  his  consort  and  by  the  god 
Nefertem  as  their  son.  In  some  other  places,  for 
example,  at  Elephantine,  on  the  southern  frontier 
of  Egypt,  Khnum,  the  god  of  the  cataracts,  was  asso- 
ciated with  two  goddesses,  Satis  and  Anukis. 

In  many  cases,  no  doubt,  the  popular  belief  allot- 
ted to  a  particular  local  deity  a  religious  significance 
above  his  fellows ;  more  often  it  was  the  political 
position  of  a  city  that  augmented  the  celebrity  and 
power  of  its  patron.  If,  for  example,  a  small  city 
gained  the  hegemony  of  a  wide  district,  the  "urban 
god"  became  the  god  of  a  region,  the  patron  of  a 
whole  province,  worshipped  in  its  temples  along 
with  the  local  gods. 

When  two  great  kingdoms  arose  in  Upper  and 
Lower  Egypt,  then  the  local  god  of  the  city  from 


30     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


which  the  king  came  and  in  which  he  resided  be- 
came privileged  above  all  other  gods ;  he  was 
elevated  into  the  tutelary  divinity  and  patron  of 
the  whole  state.  Thus  Horus  of  Behdet  was  god 
of  Lower  Egypt,  Set  of  Ombos  the  god  of  Upper 
Egypt.  The  kings  themselves  came  to  be^egarded 
as  the  earthly  representatives,  as  incarnations  of 
these  guardian  gods,  and  were  designated  simply 
as  "  Horus "  or  as  "  Set."  And  again,  when  the 
two  states  had  been  in  conflict  with  each  other 
for  a  series  of  years  and  Lower  Egypt  had  emerged 
the  victor,  it  was  thought  that  the  patrons  of  the 
two  realms  had  taken  part  in  the  strife,  and  that 
Horus  had  finally  defeated  Set.  The  destinies  of 
the  peoples  became  the  destinies  of  their  protectors. 
In  later  times  the  memory  of  those  primeval 
wars  faded  away ;  but  men  still  told  how  the 
two  gods  had  fought  together.  The  priests  now 
read  a  deeper  meaning  into  the  legend :  Horus  was 
the  bright  god  of  the  sun  who  sustains  a  perpetual 
conflict  with  Set,  the  husband  of  Darkness ;  every 
evening  he  is  defeated,  but  only  to  rise  again  the 
following  morning  in  a  new  form  and  enter  upon 
the  conflict  once  more.  When  Egypt  was  for  the 
first  time  united  into  a  single  state  and  came  under 
the  sway  of  one  ruler,  the  Pharaoh  was  regarded 
as  the  earthly  embodiment  of  the  two  patron  gods, 


In  the  Earliest  Times  31 


as  Horus  and  Set  jn^  one  person,  or  rather  (for  the 
northern  half  of  the  realm  had  subdued  the  south- 
ern) as  "  Horus,  who  stands  above  the  god  of 
Ombos." ' 

Later  a  similar  part  was  played  in  the  second 
dual  conflict  by  the  guardian  divinities  of  the  two 
capitals  Buto  and  Elkab :  here,  again,  the  snake- 
goddess  of  Buto  became  the  patroness  of  the  Delta, 
and  the  vulture-goddess  of  Elkab  of  Upper  Egypt, 
while  after  the  second  unification  the  two  patron- 
esses became  the  special  guardians  of  the  Pharaoh 
and  remained  so  ever  afterwards.  Thus  a  part  of 
the  poHtical  history  of  Egypt  had  in  the  earliest 
ages  left  its  imprint  on  the  religion  of  the  people. 

A  very  special  part,  which  is  as  yet  not  explained, 
was  played  among  the  local  Egyptian  deities  by  the 
god  Osiris.  He  was  originally  domiciled  in  the 
Delta,  probably  in  the  city  of  Busiris.  From  here 
the  worship  of  Osiris  spread  over  the  whole  land. 
Abydos  became  one  of  the  chief  places  of  his  cult, 
and  there,  among  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  kings,  a 
later  time  placed  also  the  grave  of  this  god.  The 
legend  which  is  related  of  him  was  a  favourite  among 
the  tales  of  the  Egyptian  gods,  and  allusions  to  it 
are  found  at  every  step  in  the  earliest  texts  which 
we  possess,  the  Pyramid  texts.     Unfortunately  we 

'  Cf.  Sethe,  Beitrdge  zur  dltesten  Geschichte  Aegyptens,  p.  73. 


32     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


possess  no  connected  narrative  of  the  myth  dating 
from  antiquity  and  must  therefore  reproduce  it  in 
the  late  and  quite  corrupt  form  in  which  it  is  pre- 
served by  Plutarch. 

The  celestial  goddess  Rhea  (in  Egyptian,  Nut) 
and  the  god  Kronos  (the  Egyptian  earth-god  Geb) 
had,  according  to  the  Egyptian  belief,  four  child- 
ren :  the  gods  Osiris  and  Set  (the  Greek  Typhon), 
and  the  goddesses  Isis  and  Nephthys.  Osiris  ac- 
quired the  sovereignty  over  Egypt  and  made  his 
subjects  happy.  He  gave  them  laws,  taught  them 
to  honour  the  gods,  and  introduced  agriculture. 
Later  he  travelled  over  the  whole  earth  as  an  apostle 
of  civilisation,  making  little  use  of  armed  force,  but 
winning  the  hearts  of  men  for  the  most  part  by  per- 
suasion and  teaching,  by  all  manner  of  song  and 
music.  For  this  reason  also  the  Greeks  believe  that 
he  is  the  same  as  Dionysos.  After  his  return  Set 
plotted  against  him  and  gained  seventy-two  men  as 
fellow  conspirators.  He  secretly  took  the  measure 
of  Osiris's  body,  constructed  to  this  measure  a  beauti- 
ful chest  with  rich  adornments,  and  brought  it  with 
him  to  the  banquet.  While  all  the  guests  were  en- 
joying and  admiring  the  sight  of  it,  Set  jestingly 
promised  to  give  the  chest  to  him  who  could  lie 
down  in  it  and  fill  it  exactly.  All  tried  in  turn,  but 
no  one  would  fit.     At  last  Osiris  himself  stepped  in 


In  the  Earliest  Times  33 


and  lay  down.  The  conspirators  hastened  forward, 
nailed  down  the  box  from  outside,  poured  molten 
lead  over  it,  carried  it  out  to  the  river,  and  de- 
spatched it  to  the  sea,  down  the  Tanitic  branch  of 
the  Nile. 

When  Isis  learned  of  the  death  of  her  husband 
she  set  herself  to  search  for  his  corpse  and  was 
at  last  informed  by  children  that  the  box  had 
been  carried  down  the  Nile  to  the  sea.  She  further 
learned  that  the  box  had  been  washed  ashore  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Byblos.  A  magnificent  heather 
plant  had  grown  round  it  and  enclosed  it  in  its 
stem.  When  the  King  of  the  land  saw  the  plant 
he  had  it  cut  down,  still  containing  the  cof^n,  and 
set  it  up  as  a  pillar  to  support  the  roof  of  his  house. 
Isis  heard  of  this  and  went  to  Byblos,  where  she 
was  received  in  the  palace  and  appointed  by  the 
Queen  as  nurse  to  her  child.  The  goddess  one  day 
revealed  herself  to  the  Queen,  requested  that  she 
might  have  that  pillar,  easily  drew  it  away  from 
under  the  roof,  and  cut  the  coffin  out  of  the  tree- 
trunk.  Then  she  threw  herself  upon  the  still  closed 
chest,  and  took  it  away  with  her  in  a  ship.  It  was 
not  until  she  reached  Egypt  and  found  herself  alone 
that  she  opened  the  coffin,  laid  her  face  upon  that 
of  the  dead,  and  kissed  it  tearfully.     She  then  went 

to   her  son    Horus,  who  was  being  brought  up   in 
3 


34     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Buto,  and  concealed  the  coffin  with  the  corpse  of 
Osiris.  One  night,  when  Set  was  hunting  by  moon- 
light, he  found  the  coffin,  recognised  the  corpse, 
tore  it  into  fourteen  pieces,  and  scattered  them 
abroad.  No  sooner  had  Isis  heard  this,  than  she 
began  to  collect  the  separate  parts ;  for  which  pur- 
pose she  went  about  the  swamps  of  the  Delta  in 
a  skiff  of  papyrus.  Wherever  she  found  a  member 
she  buried  it.  That  is  why  there  are  so  many 
graves  of  Osiris  in  Egypt. 

When  Horus  was  grown  to  manhood  he  prepared 
himself  with  the  help  of  Isis  to  take  vengeance  on 
Set  for  the  death  of  his  father.  The  fight  lasted  for 
many  days,  till  at  length  Horus  gained  the  victory. 
Set  was  bound  and  handed  over  to  Isis;  the  latter, 
however,  did  not  kill  him,  but  let  him  go  free.  In 
a  fit  of  anger  Horus  tore  the  crown  from  her  head ; 
but  Thout  (or  Hermes)  replaced  it  by  a  cow's  head. 
Such,  roughly,  is  the  main  content  of  the  legend 
as  handed  down  to  us  by  Plutarch. 

I  shall  return  to  Osiris  and  his  life  and  give  them 
closer  consideration  later  on. 

In  Egypt,  as  elsewhere,  men's  ideas  of  the  uni- 
verse, in  particular  of  the  heavens  and  the  heavenly 
bodies,  were  closely  connected  with  their  religious 
thoughts,  properly  so  called,  though  perhaps  less  so 
than  was  the  case  with  the   ancient    Babylonians. 


In  the  Earliest  Times  35 


The  picture  which  they  drew  of  the  world  shows 
how  narrow  was  the  geographical  horizon  of  an 
Egyptian  in  the  earliest  times.  Egypt  for  him  is 
the  entire  earth :  it  is  an  elongated  oval  surface, 
traversed  in  the  direction  of  its  length  from  north  to 
south  by  a  broad  river,  the  Nile.  Round  about  it 
there  rise  high  mountains,  the  desert  heights  which 
enclose  Egypt.  Upon  these  rests  heaven,  often 
conceived  as  a  flat  plate,  from  which  the  luminaries 
hang  like  lamps.  According  to  another  view  heaven 
is  supported  by  four  pillars  which  stand  at  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth.  Others  think  that  the  heavens 
are  fashioned  exactly  like  the  earth — that  they,  too, 
are  traversed  by  a  river  and  intersected  by  numerous 
canals.  Under  the  earth,  too,  a  counter-earth  is 
supposed  to  lie,  the  Diuet,  which  is  made  exactly 
like  the  earth  and  the  heavens,  and  is  peopled  by 
the  dead.  There  was  yet  another  way  in  which  the 
heaven  was  conceived,  viz.,  as  a  great  cow  held  fast 
by  several  minor  divinities  and  supported  by  the 
god  Show.  The  stars  are  attached  to  her  belly,  while 
the  sun-god  rides  by  day  upon  her  back  in  a  boat. 
The  world,  gods,  and  men,  are  naturally  not  im- 
agined as  having  existed  from  the  beginning,  but 
_as  having  been  created.  In  the  individual  priestly 
colleges  different  theories  were  held  about  this  crea- 
tion, just  as  about  the  nature  of  the  world  itself. 


36     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


The  most  common  belief  was  that  the  local  god,  the 
lord  of  the  city  in  question,  was  at  the  same  time 
the  creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Thus  it 
was  believed  in  Memphis  that  the  god  Ptah,  the 
great  artist,  had  carved  the  earth  as  if  it  were  a 
statue.  In  places,  such  as  Elephantine,  where 
Khnum  was  worshipped  as  guardian,  the  god  was 
supposed  to  be  the  creator  of  the  world.  He  had 
taken  mud  from  the  Nile  and  out  of  it  had  formed 
the  world-egg,  as  a  potter  working  with  his  wheel. 
In  Sais  the  goddess  Neit  was  believed  to  have  made 
the  whole  world  as  a  weaver  weaves  a  piece  of  cloth. 
These  local  cosmogonies  must  not  be  understood 
too  literally ;  in  many  of  them  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  poetic  fancy  played  a  considerable  part. 

The  most  widespread  of  all  was  a  belief  which 
perhaps  proceeded  from  the  priestly  college  of 
Heliopolis.  According  to  this  there  was  in  the  be- 
ginning a  great  primordial  body  of  water  called  Nun, 
which  contained  all  male  and  female  germs  of  life. 
Out  of  it  came  the  sun,  the  Re  as  it  is  called  in 
Egyptian.  In  this  water,  too,  lay  the  earth-god 
Geb  and  the  heavenly  goddess.  Nut,  locked  in  a 
close  embrace,  until  the  god  of  the  air.  Show,  parted 
them  from  one  another  and  carried  the  goddess  of 
heaven  in  his  arms  into  the  upper  regions.* 

'  Cf.  Maspero,  Histoire  ancienne  de  V Orient,  i.,  p.  129. 


In  the  Earliest  Times  37 


The  Nile,  too,  "  which  gives  Egypt  life,  which 
preserves  all  men  by  food  and  nourishment,"  was 
considered  as  a  divine  being.  It  was  represented  as 
a  man-woman,  with  the  bosom  of  a  woman  and  a 
long  beard  framing  the  face.  The  dress  was  that  of 
an  Egyptian  seaman./' 

It  was  the  heavenly  bodies  above  all  of  which  the 
Egyptians  conceived  as  divine  beings.  Must  not 
the  Egyptian  peasant,  when  of  an  evening  he  cast 
his  gaze  upwards  to  the  wonderful  brightness  of  the 
starry  heaven,  have  been  inclined  to  the  thought 
that  up  there,  too,  gods  dwell  ?  Thus  in  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  the  Egyptian  constellations,  Orion, 
he  saw  a  god,  and  in  the  brilliant  Sirius  a  goddess, 
Sopdet,  or  Sothis  ;  but  above  all  he  regarded  the 
sun  as  a  divine  being  who  governs  the  course  of  the 
world.  There  was  great  variety  in  the  theories 
which  were  held  about  the  greatest  of  luminaries 
in  the  different  priestly  schools  of  the  country.  I 
have  already  mentioned  what  I  believe  to  be  the 
common  Egyptian  idea,  according  to  which  the  sun 
was  a  hawk,  the  god  Horus,  who  soars  in  the 
heavens  with  his  briUiant  plumage.  Otherwise  the 
sun-god  sailed  during  the  day  over  the  waters  of 
the  heavens  just  like  an  Egyptian  seaman,  only 
every  evening  he  must  descend  into  the  lower  world 
and  there  continue  his  voyage.     Others,  again,  repre- 


38     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

sent  the  sun-god  in  the  somewhat  ridiculous  form 
of  a  dung-beetle,  or  scarabseus.  Just  as  the  latter 
rolls  in  front  of  it  a  little  ball  containing  its  egg,  so 
the  god  rolls  in  front  of  him  through  the  heavens 
the  round  globe  of  the  sun.  Yet  others  think  that 
every  morning  a  lotus-flower  springs  from  the  water 
bearing  a  little  boy  — the  sun-god  —  sitting  in  its 
blossoms. 

Thus  the  picture  which  I  have  been  able  to  sketch 
to  you  to-day  of  the  oldest  form  of  the  Egyptian 
religion  accessible  to  us  is  composed  of  extremely 
varied  elements ;  on  the  one  hand  we  have  seen  the 
local  divinities,  on  the  other,  cosmic  beings  standing 
at  an  infinite  distance  from  man.  How  the  two  be- 
came blended  by  theological  speculation,  and  how 
from  the  combination  an  almost  new  religion  arose, 
will  form  the  chief  theme  of  my  second  lecture. 


LECTURE  II. 
The  Development  of  the  Egyptian  ReHglon. 

A  FAVOURITE  thing  to  say  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  is  that  they  were  a  pre-eminently 
conservative  people.  This  is  doubtless  true.  The 
Egyptian  clung  as  stubbornly  as  the  Low  German 
to  the  manners  and  customs  which  were  his  heritage 
from  the  earhest  days.  But  it  must  not  be  inferred 
that  the  Egyptian  civilisation  was  a  barren  one ; 
that  it  remained  for  thousands  of  years  at  the  stage 
which  it  had  reached  before  the  dawn  of  Egyptian 
history.  In  the  language  of  the  Egyptians,  in  their 
writing  and  their  literature,  as  also  in  their  political 
life  and  their  art,  there  is  discernible  a  continuous 
development.  This,  to  be  sure,  does  not  at  once 
strike  the  casual  observer,  whose  first  impression,  on 
being  introduced  to  a  mass  of  new  and  strange  facts, 
however  diverse,  is  generally  one  of  uniformity- 
Only  by  degrees  does  the  student  find  the  convic- 
tion growing  upon  him  that  in  all  peoples,  the 
Egyptian  as  well  as  others,  mental  and  spiritual  life 
is  never  stagnant  but  always  in  motion. 

39 


40     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


There  is  certainly  one  respect  in  which  the  civiHsa- 
tion  of  the  Egyptians  was  more  conservative,  more 
continuous,  than  that  of  other  peoples.  The  laws 
which  had  been  evolved  in  the  earliest  times  retained 
their  authority  for  thousands  of  years ;  and  the  de- 
velopment of  civilisation  almost  always  followed  the 
paths  which  primitive  ages  had  traced  out  for  it. 
This  is  true  in  the  sphere  of  writing,  of  art,  and  also 
in  that  of  religious  ideas.  New  thoughts,  no  doubt, 
were  afterwards  woven  into  the  primitive  fabric  ;  but 
the  Egyptian  religion,  in  its  earliest  form  the  pro- 
duct of  special  political  relations,  never  underwent 
radical  revision,  and  the  only  attempt  in  this  direc- 
tion of  which  history  tells  was  a  dismal  failure. 

In  the  earliest  times,  as  you  will  remember,  there 
were  formed  out  of  the  various  minor  states  of 
Egypt  two  kingdoms,  a  Lower  and  an  Upper  Egyp- 
tian Kingdom.  It  was  by  the  subjection  of  the  lat- 
ter that  the  land  first  became  a  political  whole.  The 
capital  of  this  united  Egypt,  as  we  may  assume  with 
great  probability,  was  Heliopolis,  or,  to  give  it  its 
Egyptian  name.  On.  This  name  is  doubtless  known 
to  you  from  the  Bible,  for  Joseph's  wife,  Asenath, 
was  the  daughter  of  Potipherah,  a  high  priest  of  On 
(Gen.  xli.,  50  ;  xlvi.,  20).  The  city  lay  only  a  few 
miles  to  the  north-east  of  the  modern  Cairo.'  Its 
1  Cf.  Baedeker's  Egypt,  5th  edition,  p.  107. 


Its  Development  41 


guardian  was  the  god  Atum.  His  worship  was 
accompanied  by  that  of  the  sun-god,  and  here  it 
would  seem  that  it  was  the  visible  luminary,  the  Re, 
to  which  men  paid  homage.  He  was  regarded  as 
the  god  "  who  resides  in  an  egg  [that  is,  the  sun], 
who  sends  forth  light  from  his  celestial  abode,  who 
rises  in  his  horizon  and  swims  upon  his  brass  [that 
is,  the  brazen  plate  of  heaven],  whose  like  is  not 
found  among  the  gods,  and  who  illuminates  the 
world  with  his  brightness." 

Within  the  temple,  probably  beneath  the  open 
sky,  stood  a  pillar  of  stone  as  the  direct  recipient 
of  the  worship  paid  to  the  great  god.  Later,  this 
pillar  was  given  a  symmetrical  artistic  form,  and 
thus  the  obelisk  took  its  rise  —  a  gently  tapering 
column  with  a  pyramidal  apex. 

Whereas  in  other  instances  the  great  cosmic  di- 
vinities followed  their  own  courses  far  above  the 
doings  of  men,  the  sun-god  of  Heliopolis  entered 
into  special  relations  with  the  human  race  and  re- 
ceived a  special  worship.  He  was  the  greatest  and 
mightiest  of  the  gods.  The  priesthood  of  Heli- 
opolis, however,  did  not  rest  content  with  the  mere 
proclamation  of  these  attributes,  but  applied  them- 
selves with  a  certain  amount  of  logic  to  deducing 
their  consequences ;  by  which  means  they  arrived  at 
a  deeper   conception    of   the   god's   nature.     They 


42     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


/  discovered,  first  of  all,  that  there  was  only  one  sun- 
god,  Re,  and  that  the  old  sun-god  Horus,  who 
\  soared  as  a  hawk  above  the  heavens,  was  the  same 
\  in  essence  as  Re.  The  two  differed  only  in  name. 
The  god  was  therefore  named  "  Re-Horus,  who  is  in 
the  horizon,"  and  the  same  fusion  appeared  in  his 
picture,  where  the  hawk-headed  Horus  is  seen  sur- 
mounted by  the  sun. 

Similarly  the  old  local  god  Atum  was  identified 
'  with  the  sun-god  Re-Horus ;  and  he,  too,  was  as- 
sumed to  be  the  same  being  as  Re,  only  known 
by  a  different  name.  The  old  sun-god  Kheperi, 
who  was  represented  as  a  scarabaeus,  furnishes  an- 
other example  of  this  process.  All  these  divinities 
were  regarded  as  particular  forms  or  "  Names  "  of 
the  one  single  god. 

Now  this  view  was  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
assignment  of  special  functions  to  each  of  these  sun- 
gods —  with  the  conception,  for  example,  of  Re- 
Horus,  or  of  Kheperi  as  the  evening,  or  of  Atum  as 
the  morning  sun.  The  sun  traversed  the  heavens  in 
a  vessel,  but  while  he  went  for  his  morning  sail  in  the 
good  ship  Mejiezet,  he  took  his  seat  for  the  evening  in 
the  \)2s^Mesektet,  which  carried  him  over  the  western 
horizon  to  the  fabulous  mountain  Menu.  The  mani- 
fold legends  which  in  the  various  localities  had  been 
woven  round  the  daily  course  of  the  sun  were  now 


Its  Development  43 


transferred  to  the  one  sun-god  of  Heliopolis.  Con- 
tradictions thus  arose,  sometimes  of  the  most 
curious  kind,  but  no  attempt  was  made  at  recon- 
cihation.  The  number  of  sun-myths  must  have 
been  simply  enormous ;  allusions  to  them  occur  in 
almost  every  religious  text.  It  is,  however,  only  a 
very  small  part  of  them  that  has  been  preserved  to  us. 
Of  these  legends  relating  to  the  sun-god  there  is 
one  which  I  should  like  to  relate  somewhat  fully, 
in  order  to  give  a  fair  idea  of  what  these  ancient 
Egyptian  myths  were."  In  this  particular  instance 
the  sun-god  Re  is  presented  to  us  as  a  king  who 
exercises  sovereignty  over  gods  and  men.  Like  an 
earthly  prince  he  sits  on  his  throne  and  communes 
with  his  subjects.  But  he  shares  in  the  sorrows  as 
well  as  in  the  joys  of  earth.  In  particular,  he  is  not 
gifted  with  eternal  youth ;  old  age  is  advancing 
upon  him,  and  men  begin  to  refuse  him  obedience, 
much  as  the  Egyptians  might  treat  a  grey-headed 
king.  Such  is  the  situation  to  which  the  legend 
introduces  us : 

"  His  Majesty  was  old  :  his  bones  were  of  silver,  his 
flesh  of  gold,  and  his  hair  of  pure  lapis  lazuli.  But  men 
conspired  against  him.  Thereupon  his  Majesty  per- 
ceived the  designs  of  men  and  spoke  to  his  attendants  : 
*  Call  hither  to  me  my  Eye  [/.  e.,  the  goddess  Hathor], 

'  Cf.  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  2tT  ff. 


44     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

the  god  Show,  and  the  goddess  Tefnut,  together  with 
the  divine  fathers  and  mothers  who  were  with  me  when 
I  still  lay  in  the  primordial  ocean  Nun  ;  call  also  the 
god  Nun  himself.  He  will  surely  bring  his  servants 
with  him.  But  let  them  come  hither  in  secret,  that  men 
may  not  see.  Come  with  them  to  the  palace,  that  they 
may  give  me  counsel.'  Then  these  gods  were  con- 
ducted thither,  and  they  prostrated  themselves  before 
him  so  that  their  foreheads  touched  the  ground. 

Then  said  they  to  his  Majesty  :  '  Speak  to  us,  that  we 
may  hear.'  Then  said  Re  to  Nun  :  '  Thou  oldest  among 
gods,  from  whom  I  had  my  being,  and  ye,  my  divine 
ancestors,  ye  see  how  men,  that  are  sprung  from  mine 
eye,  have  devised  rebellion  against  me.  Now,  therefore, 
tell  me  what  may  be  done  against  them,  for  I  will  not 
slay  them  until  I  have  heard  your  counsel  on  the  matter.' 

Then  the  Majesty  of  Nun  answered  :  '  My  son  Re, 
thou  god  that  art  greater  than  thy  father,  and  mightier 
than  they  who  created  him,  remain  [in  peace]  on  thy 
throne,  for  great  is  the  fear  of  thee  if  only  thine  eye 
[be  turned]  upon  those  that  have  conspired  against  thee.' 
Then  the  Majesty  of  Re  spoke  :  '  Behold  how  they  flee 
into  the  desert  ;  their  heart  is  afraid  because  of  that 
which  they  have  said.'  Then  said  they  to  his  Majesty  : 
*  Let  thine  eye  [/.  e.,  the  goddess  Hathor]  descend,  that 
she  may  smite  those  that  have  sinfully  blasphemed 
against  thee.'     (Thus  it  was  done). 

Then  the  goddess  returned,  after  she  had  slain  many 
men  in  the  desert.  Then  said  the  Majesty  of  this  god 
[namely  Re]  :  '  Welcome,  Hathor,  hast  thou  performed 
that  for  which  thou  wast  plucked  out  ?  Hathor  an- 
swered :  '  By  thy  life,  I  have  gained  the  mastery  over 
men,  and  this  is  pleasant  to  my  heart.' 


Its  Development  45 


But  the  pouring  out  of  blood  was  not  yet  ended  ;  on 
the  next  morning  Hathor  desired  to  continue  her  work. 
But  now  Re  had  compassion  upon  men,  and  took 
thought  how  the  slaughter  might  be  stayed.  He  sent 
messengers  in  haste  to  the  city  of  Elephantine  and 
caused  a  special  kind  of  fruit  to  be  brought  from  there. 
This  he  commanded  to  be  trodden  at  Heliopolis,  and 
out  of  the  juice  slave-women  made  beer — seven  thou- 
sand jugs  full.  Now  this  beer  had  the  appearance  of 
human  blood,  and  it  was  by  this  intoxicating  beverage 
that  men  were  to  be  saved.  Early  in  the  morning  Re 
caused  the  jugs  to  be  brought  to  the  place  where  Hathor 
desired  to  slay  men.  The  peculiar  beer  was  poured  out, 
and  the  fields  were  flooded  with  the  red  liquid. 

In  the  morning  when  Hathor  came  she  found  a  lake 
of  beer,  in  which  her  features  were  beautifully  mirrored. 
She  drank  of  it,  and  returned  home  drunk,  being  unable 
to  distinguish  men.  Thus  men  were  saved  from  the 
wrath  of  Hathor  by  a  device  of  the  sun-god.  But  his 
heart  was  tired  of  residence  among  them  ;  he  therefore 
returned  on  the  back  of  the  heavenly  cow,  and  nomi- 
nated Thout  [the  god  of  wisdom]  as  his  vicar  on  earth." 

But  the  priests  of  On-Heliopolis  were  not  content 
to  elaborate  only  the  legends  of  the  sun-gods.  They 
also  cast  into  fixed  and  final  shape  the  story  of  Osiris, 
which  I  narrated  to  you  in  my  former  lecture,  ac- 
cording to  Plutarch's  version,  and  the  history  of 
the  struggle  between  the  provincial  gods  Horus 
and  Set.  It  was  probably  through  this  process  of 
priestly  elaboration  that  the  figure  of  Horus  came 


46     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


to  be  introduced  into  the  Osiris-myth  at  all:  Horus 
was  made  into  a  son  of  Osiris,  and  Set,  the  national 
enemy  of  Lower  Egypt,  was  denominated  the  hostile 
brother  of  Osiris.  Through  the  expansion  of  the 
roles  assigned  to  these  gods,  and  through  the  fusion 
of  certain  features  in  the  old  legends,  a  host  of  con- 
tradictions was  very  naturally  introduced  into  the 
whole  mythology.  But,  as  I  have  already  stated, 
the  priests  of  Heliopolis  did  not  feel  these  absurd- 
ities as  such ;  they  saw  profound  wisdom  in  the 
contradictions,  and  set  themselves  with  unparalleled 
ingenuity  to  disentangle  the  perplexities  of  their 
own  creating.  Their  ultimate  aim  was  to  ascertain 
the  "names"  of  the  great  gods  and  find  learned  in- 
terpretations of  the  various  names  and  appella- 
tions. 

Nearly  all  the  religious  texts  bear  the  stamp  of  the 
priesthood  of  On  ;  and  it  is  probably  within  the 
mark  to  say  that  the  greater  part  of  Egyptian  re- 
ligious literature  was  produced,  or  at  least  published, 
in  that  city.  The  literary  activity  of  these  priests 
lasted  down  to  the  Greek  period,  and  their  fame 
extended  to  Greece  itself.  As  late  as  in  the  time 
of  Herodotus  the  Heliopolitans  were  deemed  the 
"most  learned"  {XoytGOTaroi,  Herod.,  ii.,  3)  of  all 
the  Egyptian  priests ;  and  scholars,  such  as  Plato 
and  Eudoxus,  went  on  pilgrimages  to  the  "City  of 


Its  Development  47 


the  Sun,"  in  order  to  hear  the  last  word  of  wisdom 
in  the  school  of  its  priests. 

The  development  of  mythology  was  accompanied 
in  Heliopolis  by  the  endeavour  to  comprehend  in 
a  single  system  the  creation  of  the  universe.  At 
the  beginning  of  all  things,  and  thus  at  the  head 
of  the  series  of  gods,  was  placed  the  local  god 
of  Heliopolis  —  Atum,  identified  with  Re-Horus. 
After  him,  in  order  of  creation,  came  the  earth-god? 
Geb,  and  the  goddess  of  heaven.  Nut,  together  with 
the  god  of  the  air.  Show.  As  Geb  had  a  female 
divinity  by  his  side,  a  similar  companion  was  found 
for  Show — the  goddess  Tefnut,  who  was  afterwards 
explained  as  the  "  dew."  Next  to  these  came 
Osiris,  as  the  son  of  Geb  and  Nut,  and  Set,  with 
their  female  counterparts,  Isis  and  Nephthys.  A 
cycle  of  nine  gods  was  thus  constructed,  represent- 
ing the  origin  of  the  world  and  the  early  history  of 
Egypt;  to  this  theology  gave  the  name  of  "  The 
Ennead  {i.  e,,  the  group  of  nine  gods)  of  On." 

A  second  or  "  Lesser  Ennead''  was  afterwards  con- 
structed on  the  pattern  of  the  first,  and  in  it  various 
local  gods  found  a  shelter.  Foremost  among  them 
was  a  special  form  of  Horus,  Harsiesis,  that  is,  Horus 
the  son  of  Isis,  the  youthful  hero  of  the  Osiris- 
legend,  who  was  born  in  the  lonely  marshes  of  the 
Delta  and  there   brought   up  by  his  mother  Isis. 


48     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


In  this  new  position  he  was  regarded  as  a  sun-god 
and  the  eight  divinities  who  came  after  him,  whose 
names  are  not  given  with  certainty  by  our  authori- 
ties, were  his  defenders  against  his  enemies. 

Among  these  eight,  according  to  Maspero,  were 
first  of  all  the  Horus  of  Edfu  ;  he  pierced  with  his 
lance  the  hippopotami  and  the  serpents  which  dis- 
port themselves  in  the  celestial  waters  and  menace 
the  safe  voyage  of  the  sun's  vessel ;  there  was  further 
Thout,  the  god  of  wisdom,  who  guides  the  vessel's 
course  by  his  magic  songs  ;  lastly  there  was  the  local 
god  of  Siut,  Wep-wet,  who  steers  the  vessel  and  in 
case  of  need  tows  it  by  a  rope  over  the  shallows. 

These  two  sets  of  nine  were  finally  completed  by 
a  third,  composed  of  the  "children  of  Horus"  and 
the  "  children  of  the  god  Khenti-Kheti,"  the  local 
god  of  Athribis.  In  the  texts  these  beings  are  com- 
monly designated  as  "  spirits,"  sometimes  also  as 
"  gods,"  and  it  would  appear  that  they  were  not 
gods  in  the  full  sense,  but  occupied  an  intermediate 
position  between  gods  and  men.  As  to  the  signifi- 
cance of  this  third  set  of  nine,  we  are  in  complete 
uncertainty.' 

The  dogma  of  the  creation  and  of  the  early  his- 
tory personified  in  the  "  Great  Ennead  of  On  "  was 

'  Cf,  Chassinet,  Rectieil  de  travaux,  19,  22  ff;  Sethe,  Beitrage  zur 
dltesten  Geschichte^  p.  9. 


Its  Development  49 


now  adopted  by  other  priestly  colleges  of  the  coun- 
try, and  by  them  brought  into  harmony  with  local 
feeling  on  the  principle  of  setting  up  the  local  god 
in  the  place  of  Atum,  the  patron  of  Heliopolis,  to 
head  the  list  and  receive  honour  as  creator  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth.  Thus  at  Memphis  we  find 
the  god  Ptah,  at  Thebes,  later  on,  the  god  Amon, 
holding  the  first  position  among  the  primordial  gods. 
In  priestly  colleges  devoted  to  the  worship  of  a 
female  patron  no  difficulty  was  felt  in  transferring 
the  honours  of  Atum-Re-Horus  to  her.  Thus  Neit, 
at  Sais,  and  Hathor,  at  Dendera,  were  raised  to  the 
rank  of  leading  divinity. 

Besides  the  cosmogonic  system  of  Heliopolis,  there 
were  naturally  others.  But  only  one  of  these  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  its  position  in  Egyptian  theo- 
logy and  acquired  a  reputation  at  all  comparable 
with  that  of  its  great  rival  of  Heliopolis.  This  was 
the  system  of  Hermupolis,  a  city  of  Upper  Egypt, 
which  worshipped  as  its  patron  Thout,  the  god  of 
wisdom.  In  this  system  the  creation  was  repre- 
sented by  an  octave  (Ogdoas)  of  gods.  The  num- 
ber, so  it  would  appear,  was  fixed  at  eight  because 
the  Egyptian  name  of  Hermupolis,  Khmunui^Shmwn), 
likewise  means  "  eight."  This  simple  circumstance  is 
by  itself  enough  to  show  that  these  eight  cosmogonic 

gods  owe  their  existence  not  to  popular  legend  but 

4 


50     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


to  theological  speculation.  Here,  too,  we  find  four 
male  divinities  paired  each  with  a  goddess  invented 
expressly  to  be  his  companion.  The  gods  are:  Nu, 
Hehu,  Kek,  and  Nunu ;  the  goddesses:  Nut,  Hehut, 
Keket,  and  Naunet.  At  the  head  of  them  appears 
the  local  god  Thout-Hermes.  The  gods  are  depicted 
as  men  with  frogs'  heads,  the  goddesses  with  the 
heads  of  serpents/  otherwise  all  eight  take  the  form 
of  their  master  Thout  and  appear  as  baboons.  It  is 
in  this  form  that  we  find  them  again  and  again  greet- 
ing the  rising  sun  with  their  hymns.  We  have  un- 
fortunately no  knowledge  of  the  significance  attached 
to  these  four  pairs  of  gods.  Lepsius  saw  in  them 
the  four  elements  :  water,  fire,  earth,  and  air.  Brugsch 
explained  Nu  and  Nut  as  primordial  matter,  Hek 
and  Heket  as  active  force,  Kek  and  Keket  as  dark- 
ness, Nunu  and  Naunet  as  cosmic  precipitation. 
This,  however,  is  bold  speculation,  which  can  hardly 
reproduce  the  thoughts  of  the  old  priests  of  Her- 
mupolis. 

The  priestly  doctrines  in  the  form  in  which  they 
were  elaborated  at  Heliopolis,  at  Hermupolis,  and  in 
other  religious  centres,  naturally  enough  never  be- 
came the  common  property  of  the  people.  On  the 
contrary,  they  were  wrapped  in  the  robe  of  se- 
crecy and  guarded  as  special  mysteries,  into  which 

'  Cf.  Maspero,  Hist.  anc.  de  V Orient,  i.,  p.  149. 


Its  Development  51 


only  the  elect  might  penetrate.  The  Egyptian 
peasant  knew  nothing  of  the  one  original  sun-god  of 
whom  the  other  sun-gods  were  particular  "names"  ; 
he  did  not  trouble  himself  about  greater  and  lesser 
enneads  and  the  mystic  beings  composing  them  ;  he 
repeated  his  simple  morning  and  evening  prayer  to 
the  sun,  and  presented,  as  of  old,  his  modest  offer- 
ing to  the  divine  protector  of  his  native  place. 

Among  the  priests,  on  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine 
of  the  sun-god  won  greater  and  greater  approval. 
In  the  historical  period  it  would  appear  to  have  re- 
ceived a  special  impetus  from  the  kings  of  Dynasty 
V.  These  kings  were  descended,  if  we  may  trust 
the  statement  of  an  ancient  story-book,  from  a 
priest  of  the  sun-god  who  lived  at  Sekhebu,  a  city  of 
Lower  Egypt  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Heliopolis. 
The  legend  relates  that  the  sun-god  himself  was  the 
father  of  the  first  three  sovereigns  belonging  to  this 
royal  house ;  that  the  gods  gave  assistance  at  their 
birth  and  presented  them  with  kingly  crowns.  The 
new  rulers  devoted  themselves  with  particular  zeal 
to  the  service  of  Re,  and  in  his  honour  they  built 
in  the  necropolis  of  Memphis  special  temples,  ar- 
ranged after  the  pattern  of  the  temple  of  the  sun 
at  Heliopolis. 

This  preferential  worship  of  the  sun-god  stimu- 
lated the  tendency  to  identify  other  gods  with  him. 


/ 


52     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Even  deities  who  had  originally  had  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  sun,  for  example,  Sobek,  the 
old  god  of  water,  or  Amon,  the  god  of  the  harvest, 
were  conceived  as  sun-gods,  and  portrayed  with  the 
addition  of  Re's  insignia — the  solar  disc  encircled 
by  the  poisonous  uraeus-serpent.  Similarly,  the  fe- 
male deities  were  conceived  as  goddesses  of  heaven, 
identified  with  each  other,  and  represented  with  the 
sun  above  their  heads. 

The  Egyptian  religion  entered  upon  a  new  phase 
of  its  development  in  the  "  Middle  Kingdom,"  when 
the  political  centre  of  gravity  of  the  realm  was  gen- 
erally shifted  southward.  During  the  internal  con- 
fusion which  had  brought  the  "  Old  Kingdom  "  to 
its  end,  the  Upper  Egyptian  city  Thebes  had  ac- 
quired power  and  reputation.  It  was  by  Theban 
princes  that  the  reorganisation  of  the  state  was  suc- 
cessfully carried  out ;  and  though  the  kings  of 
Dynasty  XII.  transferred  their  residence  to  the  lake 
district  of  the  Fayoum,  the  city  from  which  they 
had  sprung  remained  the  object  of  their  fostering 
care.  The  Theban  local  divinity,  Amon,  identified 
with  the  sun-god  and  transformed  into  Amon-Re, 
was  set  above  other  gods,  and  honoured  by  new 
temples  and  costly  gifts.  Later  on,  Thebes  was  the 
headquarters  of  the  struggle  against  the  Hyksos, 
and   after   its   termination   the    chief    city   of    the 


Its  Development  53 


"New  Kingdom."  Amon-Re  now  took  the  leading 
position  in  the  Egyptian  Pantheon.  Under  his  pro- 
tection the  Pharaohs  led  their  victorious  armies  to 
north  and  south,  to  the  Euphrates  and  far  into  the 
Soudan  ;  and  the  chief  part  of  the  booty  which  was 
brought  back  to  the  Nile  from  the  conquered  lands 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Metropolitan  patron-deity, 
Amon-Re.  It  was  he  that  had  given  to  the  Pharaoh, 
"his  own  begotten  son,  his  earthly  likeness,"  the 
sovereignty  over  the  world,  and  therefore  he,  too, 
— and  his  priests — must  receive  the  due  reward. 

Thus  in  the  "  New  Kingdom,"  Amon  became  the 
national  god  of  Egypt ;  besides  him  no  other  god 
played  any  considerable  part  in  the  state  religion 
except  only  Re-Horus  of  Heliopolis,  and  Ptah,  the 
local  divinity  of  Memphis,  the  capital  of  the  Old 
Kingdom.  To  Amon  in  the  first  place,  and  after 
him  to  Re-Horus  and  Ptah,  shrines  were  set  up  in 
the  conquered  lands,  and  the  foreign  subjects  paid 
homage  to  these  gods  as  the  guardians  of  the  Egyp- 
tian state.  At  the  same  time  the  priestly  reHgion, 
that  is,  the  theology  with  syncretistic  tendencies, 
made  further  progress.  Wherever  local  divinities 
were  separated  by  only  small  differences  of  character 
or  aspect,  it  became  the  custom  to  blend  them 
together  and  explain  them  as  different  forms  of 
one  deity.    Thus,  in  particular,  the  mighty  Amon-Re 


54     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


was  identified  with  other  gods,  with  Min  of  Koptos 
and  Khnum  of  Elephantine.  Bastet,  the  protectress 
of  Bubastis,  became  one  with  the  goddesses  Sekh- 
met  and  Pekhet,  all  of  whom  manifested  themselves 
as  lionesses  or  as  cats,  and  these  again  were  identi- 
fied with  Mut  the  mother  of  the  gods,  the  consort 
of  Amon,  who  was  worshipped  at  Thebes. 

That  by  this  means  the  already  existing  uncer- 
tainty and  confusion  in  the  Egyptian  Pantheon 
could  not  but  be  increased,  is  sufficiently  obvious. 
Certainly  it  would  have  been  no  great  task  for  an 
ingenious  mind  to  have  brought  order  into  this  re- 
markable medley  of  religious  and  mythological  be- 
liefs, belonging  to  different  times  and  different  places. 
It  was  only  necessary  to  reflect  upon  the  efforts  which 
were  being  made  to  fuse  together  the  different  local 
divinities  and  represent  them  as  gods  of  the  sun  or 
of  the  heavens — a  tendency  which  easily  led  to  the 
inference  that  the  worship  of  the  primeval  guardian 
gods  was  now  obsolete,  and  that  no  justification 
remained  for  anything  but  the  worship  of  a  small 
number  of  gods  or  even  of  a  single  one. 

But  where  was  the  man  courageous  enough  to  put 
such  a  theory  into  practice,  to  thrust  on  one  side  the 
ancient  cults,  and  introduce  a  new  one  in  their  place  ? 
Would  not  the  priestly  colleges  of  the  whole  country 
have  fought   against  such  an  undertaking  and  de- 


Its  Development  55 


fended  the  peculiar  privileges  and  attributes  of  their 
gods  ?  In  particular,  what  would  the  priests  of  the 
Theban  Amon  have  said  to  such  a  dethronement  of 
their  god,  they  who  celebrated  with  such  pride  the 
power  and  glory  of  their  patron  ?  Would  they  not 
have  opposed  with  all  their  force  the  introduction  of 
another  god,  a  greater  god  than  Amon?  And  what 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  who  clung  with  deep 
reverence  to  the  ancient  gods  of  their  homes,  and 
troubled  themselves  little  about  theological  systems? 
How  should  they  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  con- 
vinced that  the  rule  of  their  guardians  was  a  thing 
of  the  past,  that  a  new  god  had  taken  their  place  and 
must  be  worshipped  wath  prayer  and  sacrifice  by 
order  of  the  government  ?  And  yet  the  day  was 
not  so  far  distant  when  the  bold  venture  was  to 
be  made,  an  attempt  to  overthrow  the  gods  of  the 
earliest  ages  and  inaugurate  the  reign  of  a  single  god 
in  heaven  and  on  earth.  ^ 

Within  the  circle  of  the  ancient  and  reverend 
priesthood  of  Heliopolis  it  had  been  matter  of  en- 
vious and  jealous  observation  that  the  Theban  pa- 
tron, Amon,  had  been  elevated  to  the  national  god 
of  the  Egyptian  empire,  and  that  great  power  had 
been  acquired  by  his  priests  through  the  prodigal 
generosity  of  the  kings.  According^^o  the  claims 
of   the- -Heliopplitari  pnesthood,^^  Re- 


56     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Horus,  was  the  ruler  of  the  whole  world,  whereas 
Amon  was  no  more  than  Ptah  of  ^^mphis,  or 
Sobek,  the  lord  of  the  Fayoum,  that  is,  no  more 
than  a  local  god,  a  prince  as  compared  with  a  king. 
But  Amon  had  shown  his  favour  to  the  Pharaohs 
with  such  power  that  the  latter  could  not  be  guided 
by  the  jealous  wishes  of  the  old  clerical  party  and 
concede  to  Re-Horus  the  first  position  in  the  re- 
ligion of  the  state.  Chance  came  to  the  aid  of  the 
priests  of  HeliopoHs. 

King  Amenophis  III.  died  in  the  year  1392,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Amenophis  IV.  The  lat- 
ter had  possibly  been  educated  among  the  priests  of 
Heliopolis ;  in  any  case,  he  was  possessed  by  the 
belief,  cherished  in  that  city,  that  the  sun-god  was 
the  greatest  of  all  the  gods,  and  had  therefore  the 
best  right  to  universal  worship  and  the  richest  en- 
dowment with  earthly  goods.  The  priests  succeeded 
in  winning  over  the  prince  to  their  side  and  found 
in  him  a  powerful  supporter  of  their  claims.  More 
than  this,  in  the  theological  school  of  Heliopolis 
a  special  secret  doctrine  had  been  developed  in 
which  it  was  taught  that  the  purest  form  of  the 
sun-god  was  not  to  be  found  in  the  "  Re,"  but  in 
one  single  manifestation  of  him,  the  solar  disc.  To 
this  a  special  name  was  given :  "  Re-Horus,  who 
shouts  for  joy  on  the  horizon,  who  rejoices  in  his 


Its  Development  57 


name  *  Brightness  that  is  in  the  globe  of  the  sun.V" 
What  this  peculiar  title  means  we  do  not  know, 
and  just  as  little  do  we  know  what  the  devotees  of 
this  god  taught  about  him.  But  it  would  seem  that 
Amenophis  received  this  doctrine  of  the  pure  solar 
essence  with  enthusiasm ;  he  joined  the  circle  of 
worshippers  and  even  became  "  First  Prophet "  of 
the  god. 

Hardly  had  Amenophis  IV.  been  crowned  upon 
the  throne  when  he  made  his  attempt  to  advance 
the  honour  of  the  new  god  throughout  the  land. 
He  openly  professed  himself,  and  that  even  in  his 
royal  style  and  title,  as  the  "  first  prophet "  of  this 
remarkable  god,  and  commanded  that  a  great  and 
magnificent  shrine  should  be  built  to  the  latter  at 
Thebes,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Amon's 
temple.  In  the  reliefs  which  adorned  its  walls 
the  new  god  was  represented  exactly  like  the  old 
Re-Horus,  in  the  form  of  a  man  with  the  head 
of  a  hawk,  wearing  for  a  crown  the  sun  encircled 
with  the  uraeus-serpent.  In  Memphis,  too,  and  in 
other  cities  temples  were  built  to  the  many-named 
Re-Horus  or  the  "  solar  disc,"  as  he  was  shortly 
named — in  Egyptian  Aton. 

In  Middle  Egypt,  in  the  region  now  named  el- 
Amarna,  after  a  tribe  of  Bedouins,  he  even  received 
a  special   sacred   district,  a   kind   of   State   of   the 


58     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Church,  which  was  known  as  the  Ekhut-Aton,  that 
is,  "  horizon  of  the  solar  disc." 

The  entourage  of  the  king,  the  courtiers,  and 
officials,  followed  the  example  of  their  master  and 
professed  the  new  faith,  even  when  they  had  not  ac- 
cepted it  in  their  hearts.  With  all  the  zeal  which 
Amenophis  displayed  for  his  god  he  at  first  allowed 
the  worship  of  Amon  and  the  other  local  gods  to 
continue,  he  even  did  not  scruple  to  appear  in  por- 
traits and  inscriptions  as  a  worshipper  of  Amon,  of 
Thout,  of  Set,  and  other  divinities.  That,  in  spite 
of  this  the  religious  endeavours  of  the  ruler  met 
with  powerful  resistance  from  the  priestly  colleges 
of  the  land,  especially  from  the  priests  of  the  The- 
ban  Amon,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  But  this  oppo- 
sition did  not  discourage  the  king  from  introducing 
the  cult  of  his  god ;  it  rather  fanned  the  flame  of 
his  fanaticism  to  greater  fierceness  and  drove  him  at 
length  to  the  last  decisive  step. 

In  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign  the  worship  of  Aton 
was  made  the  religion  of  the  state.  The  Egyptians, 
as  well  as  the  Nubians  and  Asiatics  who  had  been 
subjected  to  the  empire,  were  officially  required 
henceforth  to  serve  only  this  one  god.  In  Egypt 
the  temples  of  the  other  divinities  were  everywhere 
closed ;  their  property  was  sequestrated.  The  stat- 
ues of   the  ancient  gods  were   ordered  to  be  dc- 


Its  Development  59 


stroyed,  their  portraits  erased  from  the  temple  walls, 
their  names  blotted  out.  More  particularly  an  ac- 
tive persecution  was  set  on  foot  against  Amon  and 
his  family,  the  mother-goddess  Mut,  and  the  moon- 
god  Khons.  The  name  "Amon"  was  altogether 
proscribed  and  nowhere  tolerated.  He  who  bore  a 
name  compounded  of  Amon  renamed  himself;  and 
of  those  who  did  so  the  king  himself  was  one  of 
the  first.  He  renounced  his  name  "  Amen-hotep," 
Amenophis,  which  means  "Amon  is  content,"  and 
was  henceforth  known  as  "  Ekh-en-Aton,"  that  is, 
"Spirit  of  the  solar  luminary." 

The  king  had  thrown  himself  into  the  new  religion 
with  unparalled  fervour  and  devotion.  But  the  capi- 
tal, Thebes,  was  not  an  appropriate  place  in  which  to 
serve  his  god  with  perfect  zeal.  Here,  everything 
had  been  for  ages  far  too  closely  connected  with  the 
cult  of  Amon  ;  and  here,  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts,  the 
new  doctrine  made  but  slow  headway.  The  Pharaoh, 
therefore,  resolved  to  leave  Thebes  with  his  whole 
court,  and  found  a  new  residence  in  the  sacred  dis- 
trict of  el-Amarna,  which  had  been  dedicated  to 
Aton.  In  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign  he  made 
his  brilliant  entry  into  the  "  Horizon  of  the  solar 
luminary," 

But  what,  you  will  probably  ask  me,  was  the 
subject    of     the   new    Egyptian    state-religion,   the 


6o     The  Relii^ion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


\/ 


J 


"  doctrine,"  to  which  the  king  had  devoted  himself 
with  such  fervour,  and  which  he  sought  to  spread 
over  the  land  by  all  the  means  in  his  power  ?  The 
answer  to  this  question  is  given  by  the  great  hymn, 
perhaps  composed  by  the  king  himself,  in  which 
"Aton"  is  extolled  as  the  only  God,  the  creator  of 
all  life,  the  orderer  and  upholder  of  the  world ' : 

"  Beautiful  is  thy  brightness,"  it  runs,  "  on  the  hori- 
zon of  the  heavens,  thou  living  sun  that  didst  live  before 
all  else.  When  thou  risest  on  the  eastern  horizon,  thou 
fillest  the  whole  land  with  thy  beauty.  Thou  art  fair, 
and  great,  and  bright,  and  lifted  up  above  the  earth.  Thy 
rays  encompass  the  world  and  all  that  thou  hast  made." 

The  hymn  goes  on  to  describe  how  in  the  night, 
when  the  sun  has  vanished  and  "  descended  beneath 
the  horizon  of  the  West,"  men  are  seized  with  deep 
slumber,  and  only  the  wild  beasts  that  are  man's 
enemies,  lions  and  serpents,  come  forth  from  their 
lairs. 

But  what  a  difiference, 

"  when  the  land  is  bright,  when  thou  risest  upon  the 
horizon,  when  thou  sendest  abroad  thy  rays  ;  then  the 
world  is  glad,  men  awake  and  stand  up,  for  thou  hast 
raised  them.  They  wash  their  limbs  and  put  on  their 
garments,  and  their  arms  are  lifted  up  in  prayer,  when 
thou  risest.      Then  all  beasts  are  at  rest  in  their  pastures, 

1  Cf.  F.  Henry  Breasted,  De  hy}?inis  in  Sokm  sub  rege  Amenophide 
IV.  conceptis  (Berlin,  1S94). 


\ 


Its  Development  6i 


trees  and  herbs  are  green,  the  birds  flutter  from  their 
nests,  and  their  wings  praise  thee.  The  lambs  leap 
in  the  meadows,  all  insects  and  all  things  that  fly  are 
alive  when  thou  shinest  upon  them." 

So,  too,  the  sun  wakes  life  in  the  waters  :  "  the 
ships  sail  to  and  fro,  to  North  and  South  ;  the  fishes 
swim  before  thee  in  the  river,  and  thy  beams  pierce 
to  the  midst  of  the  sea."  All  men  and  animals  were 
created  by  the  sun  :  "  he  quickens  the  child  in  his 
mother's  womb,"  and  "when  the  child  comes  forth  into 
the  world  on  the  day  of  his  birth,  then  thou  openest 
his  mouth  so  that  he  speaketh."  It  is  Aton  again,  that 

"  giveth  the  breath  of  life  to  the  chick  piping  in  his 
broken  egg-shell.  .  .  .  How  manifold  are  the 
things  which  thou  hast  made  !  According  to  thine  own 
wish  hast  thou  created  the  earth,  with  man  and  all  cattle 
and  all  small  creatures,  with  all  things  that  go  upon 
feet  or  fly  in  the  air,  the  land  of  Syria  and  the  land  of 
Ethiopia,  besides  the  land  of  Egypt.  Thou  settest  each 
thing  in  his  place,  thou  satisfiest  his  needs.  The  tongues 
of  men  are  divers  in  speech,  and  their  outward  favour 
differeth  in  colour.     So  didst  thou  divide  all  peoples." 

As  Aton  created  men,  so,  too,  does  he  nourish 
them  ;  foreigners  by  the  rain,  the  Egyptians  by  the 
Nile,  the  "heavenly  Nile."  The  god  is  praised, 
lastly,  because  he  "  created  the  seasons,"  the  winter 
cold  and  the  summer  heat : 

"Thou  madest  the  distant  heaven,  to  shine  therein, 


62     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


and  to  behold  all  thou  hast  created.  Thou  art  the  only- 
one  ;  thou  shinest  in  thine  own  likeness  as  the  living  ball 
of  the  sun,  thou  risest  and  sendest  forth  thy  beams  ; 
cities  and  villages,  the  tribes  of  the  Bedouins,  and  the 
rivers,  all  eyes  look  upon  thee  when  thou,  the  sun,  art 
above  the  earth  by  day." 

This  hymn  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  those 
preserved  to  us  from  Egyptian  literature ;  but  it 
contains  no  particularly  original  thoughts.  Most  of 
it  might  have  stood  very  vi^ell  in  an  old  orthodox 
hymn  to  the  sun,  composed  before  the  Reformation. 
The  important  dogma  in  the  new  faith  is  that  which 
maintains  Aton  to  be  the  creator,  orderer,  and 
governor  of  the  whole  world  and  not  of  Egypt  alone. 
He  v^as  the  King  of  the  All ;  and  this  attribute  was 
expressed  in  a  naive  fashion  by  enclosing  his  name, 
like  that  of  an  earthly  Pharaoh,  in  an  oval  ring,  and 
by  the  addition  of  a  number  of  epithets,  such  as 
"  the  living  globe  of  the  sun,  the  lord  of  all  which 
the  globe  of  the  sun  compasses,  who  illuminates 
Egypt,  the  lord  of  the  sun's  rays." 

Above  all,  the  "  doctrine  "  made  a  clean  sweep  of 
polytheistic  ideas,  and  sought  to  establish  in  their 
stead  practically  a  pure,  if  somewhat  crudely  ma- 
terial monotheism.  But  what  was  expelled  by  one 
door  was  readmitted  by  another;  the  king  himself 
was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  god,  his  cult  was  set  up 


Its  Development  63 


in  different  places,  and  priests  appointed  for  his 
worship.  Moreover,  the  new  faith,  even  after  its 
recognition  as  the  religion  of  the  state,  was  not  ex- 
empt from  doctrinal  change.  This  appeared  in  the 
fact  that  the  name  of  Aton  was  varied  ;  he  received 
a  still  stranger  title  than  before,  which  ran  as  follows  : 
"  Re  [the  sun]  lives,  the  prince  of  the  two  horizons, 
he  who  exults  on  the  horizon,  in  his  name  '  Flame 
that  comes  from  the  sun.'  " 

Another  point  at  which  the  new  doctrine  broke 
with  tradition  was  the  external  form  in  which  the 
god  was  conceived.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Re- 
formation, during  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of 
Amenophis  IV.,  Aton,  as  I  have  already  mentioned, 
was  still  represented  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
old  Re-Horus ;  but  in  the  monotheistic  state-re- 
ligion every  personal  representation  of  the  deity 
was  rejected,  every  image  or  likeness  of  a  god  re- 
moved. Worship  was  paid  solely  to  the  visible, 
light-giving  sun.  This  is  portrayed  as  a  round  disc, 
from  which  proceeded  long  rays,  ending  in  hands 
which  hold  out  the  symbols  of  life  to  the  king  and 
his  family  as  the  representatives  of  humanity.' 

No    energetic    resistance    seems    to    have    been 

'  Cf.  Lepsius,  Denkmdlei\  iii.,  pp.  gi-iio;  Maspero,  Hist,  anc, 
ii.,  p.  328 ;  Steindorff,  Bliitczeit  des  Fkaraonenreichs,  pp.  146, 
156,  157. 


64     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


opposed  to  the  introduction  of  the  new  state-rehgion 
in  any  part  of  the  country.  At  any  rate  we  do 
not  hear  of  any  insurrectionary  movement  directed 
against  the  king.  The  majority  of  the  local  officials 
bowed  to  the  Pharaoh's  commands  ;  those  who  did 
not  were  relieved  of  their  posts,  possibly  even 
executed. 

But  hardly  had  Amenophis  passed  to  his  rest, 
after  a  reign  of  about  eighteen  years,  when  the 
storm  burst  on  what  had  been  his  religious  life- 
work.  The  adherents  of  the  old  faith,  the  Theban 
priests  of  Amon  at  their  head,  put  forth  their  whole 
strength  in  the  effort  to  restore  the  banished  gods, 
to  open  the  old  temples  once  more  to  the  people, 
and  regain  possession  of  their  sequestrated  property. 
Amenophis's  son-in-law  and  successor — the  heretic 
king  had  left  no  son  behind  him — sought  to  resist 
the  Counter-reformation,  but  was  quickly  hurled 
from  the  throne.  His  successor  and  brother-in-law, 
Tut-enkh-aton,  had  the  shrewdness  to  see  that  the 
Aton-doctrine  could  not  be  maintained  as  the  religion 
of  the  State,  and  that  the  only  means  of  retaining 
his  throne  was  to  make  peace  with  the  adherents  of 
the  old  faith.  He  restored  the  liberty  of  worshipping 
the  ancient  gods,  and  publicly  professed  his  devo- 
tion to  Amon,  the  god  but  recently  so  persecuted. 

As  Amenophis  had    once    changed    his    name, 


Its  Development  65 


because  it  contained  the  prohibited  word  "  Amon," 
so  the  new  king  altered  his  own  name,  which  was 
compounded  with  "  Aton."  Henceforth  he  was 
known  as  "  Tut-enkh-Amon,"  "  the  Hving  image  of 
Amon."  Yielding  to  the  pressure  of  circumstances, 
the  new  Pharaoh  abandoned  his  residence  at  el- 
Amarna,  and  retransferred  his  court  to  the  old 
capital  Thebes.  But  it  was  reserved  for  King 
Haremhab,  the  second  successor  of  Tut-enkh-Amon, 
to  aboHsh  entirely  the  state-religion  of  Amenophis 
IV.  The  temple  of  Aton,  which  remained  standing 
under  the  immediate  successors  of  the  heretic  king, 
was  razed  and  the  ground  made  smooth  where  it 
had  been.  Throughout  the  country  an  onslaught 
was  made  on  the  memory  of  the  sun-worshipper,  of 
his  family,  and  of  his  god  ;  their  names  and  por- 
traits were  destroyed  wherever  they  could  be  laid 
hold  of.' 

Orthodoxy  thus  gained  a  complete  victory ;  but 
the  religious  life  which  had  put  forth  its  fairest  flower 
in  the  new  "  doctrine  "  of  Amenophis  IV.  was  thereby 
destroyed,  and  all  further  development  of  the  faith 
checked.  Amon-Re  was  once  more  the  uncontested 
lord  of  the  Egyptian  gods ;  and  his  zealous  priests, 

'  As  to  the  history  of  the  heretic  kings  cf.  principally  Ed.  Meyer, 
Geschichte  des  alten  Aegyptens,  p.  ito  ff;  Maspero,  Hist,  anc,  ii., 
p.  "iitff;  Steindorff,  Bliitczeit,  p.  \\o  ff. 
5 


66     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


continuing  the  syncretism  of  the  older  theology, 
were  at  pains  to  represent  him  as  the  "  one  and  only 
god,  whose  like  nowhere  exists."  The  tendency  of 
the  priestly  speculations  of  the  reactionary  epoch  is 
exhibited  to  us  by  a  hymn  dedicated  to  Amon.'  I 
should  like  to  give  you  a  sample  or  two,  taken  from 
the  abundance  of  its  somewhat  inflated  verse : 

"  Praise  be  to  thee  " — so  it  begins — "  Amon-Re,  thou 
bull  that  art  in  Heliopolis;  lord  of  Karnak,  .... 
thou  Ancient  One  of  the  heavens,  and  most  ancient  upon 
earth,  lord  of  law,  father  of  the  gods  ....  who 
hast  made  the  higher  and  the  lower  (meaning  perhaps  the 
celestial  bodies  and  mankind),  and  who  givest  light  to 
the  world,  who  makest  a  prosperous  voyage  through  the 
heavens,  thou  blessed  King  Re,  supreme  over  the  world, 
thou  that  art  rich  in  power,  full  of  strength,  .  .  . 
Praise  be  to  thee,  thou  creator  of  the  gods,  thou  that  didst 
lift  up  the  heavens  and  tread  down  the  earth.  . 
Thou  lord  of  eternity,  that  didst  create  the  eternal 
.  .  .  .  thou  comely  king  that  art  crowned  with  a 
white  crown,  thou  lord  of  splendour  that  createst  light, 
to  whom  the  (very)  gods  vouchsafe  praise.  Praise  be  to 
thee.  Re,  lord  of  right,  whose  holiness  is  hidden,  thou 
lord  of  the  gods  ;  thou  art  Kheperi  in  thy  vessel;  at  thy 
command  the  gods  arose;  thou  art  Atum  that  didst  create 
mankind.  Thou  onlyart  he  that  createdwhatsoever  is;  men 
came  forth  from  thine  eye,  and  the  gods  from  out  of  thy 

'  Papyrus  in  Cairo  (Bulak),  No.  17,  published  by  Marietta  ; 
Papyrus  de  Bottlag,  ii.,  pi.  n  ff.;  cf.  Grebaut,  Hymne  a  Amtnon-Ra 
(Paris,  1874) ;  Wiedemann,  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians, 
pp.  111-115. 


Its  Development  67 


mouth.  Thou  art  he  that  did  create  green  herbs  for  the 
cattle  and  fruit-bearing  trees  for  men;  whogiveth  a  liveli- 
hood to  the  fishes  in  the  river  and  the  birds  under  the  heav- 
ens, who  lendeth  breath  to  the  creature  that  is  still  within 
the  egg,  and  nourisheth  the  son  of  the  worm;  that  giveth 
life  to  the  flies  as  to  the  worms  and  the  fleas;  he  pro- 
videth  that  which  the  mice  have  need-of  in  their  holes. 
.  .  .  Praised  be  thou  that  didst  create  all  this.  Thou 
king,  supreme  among  gods,  we  worship  thee  because  thou 
didst  make  us,  we  extol  thee  because  thou  hast  fashioned 
us;  we  bless  thee  because  thou  dwellest  among  us." 

In  all  the  phrases,  as  you  doubtless  perceive,  there 
is  manifest  a  distinct  strain  of  inonotheislic  sentiment. 
But  it  is  only  sentiment  ;  for  in  practice  the  worship 
of  the  ancient  gods  was  clung  to  more  firmly  than 
ever,  while,  by  the  side  of  Amon,  Re-Horus  of 
Heliopolis  and  Ptah  of  Memphis  retained  their  high 
place  in  the  Egyptian  Pantheon  and  were  extolled 
in  hymns  similar  to  this. 

It  is  true  that  in  addition  to  those  already  named, 
only  one  other  ancient  Egyptian  deity,  Set,  re- 
ceived special  honour  within  a  short  period,  under 
the  rule  of  the  Ramessidae.  Originally  the  local 
god  of  Ombos  in  Upper  Egypt,  he  had  become, 
as  far  back  as  the  primitive  age,  the  patron  of  the 
southern  kingdom.  He  had  been  received  into 
the  "  Great  Ennead  "  of  Heliopolis,  and  played  an 
important  part  in   the  Osiris-myth,      His   worship. 


68     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


moreover,  had  become  domiciled  in  the  eastern 
Delta,  especially  in  the  cities  of  Tanis  and  Auaris. 
He  had  thus  become  patron  of  Eastern  Egypt, 
and,  crossing  the  border,  had  taken  under  his  pro- 
tection the  Syrian  dominions  of  the  Pharaoh.  At 
Auaris,  where  the  Hyksos-kings  had  set  up  their 
court  after  their  conquest  of  Egypt,  he  had  also  be- 
come the  patron  of  the  barbarians,  and  again  the  op- 
ponent of  Re-Horus,  who  stretched  a  protecting 
hand  over  the  Egyptians  and  led  them  to  battle 
against  the  national  foe.  Set  became,  in  fact,  identi- 
fied with  Baal,  the  protector  of  the  Syrian  tribes  and 
cities.  But  still  he  was  and  remained  an  Egyptian 
divinity,  and  continued  to  receive  worship  in  his 
ancient  cities.  The  kings  of  Dynasty  XIX.,  on 
grounds  we  are  now  unable  to  determine  with  any 
certainty,  even  regarded  him  as  their  ancestor,  and 
numerous  members  of  their  family  derived  their 
names  from  him — e.  g.,  Sethos,  "  he  who  belongs  to 
Set,"  and  Setnakht,  "  Set  is  strong."  But  when 
Ramses  II.  fixed  his  residence  temporarily  on  the 
eastern  frontier  of  Egypt,  at  Tanis  (the  biblical  Zoan), 
the  renown  of  Set,  who  was  worshipped  in  that 
city,  was  even  further  increased ;  he  became  one  of 
the  chief  gods,  by  the  side  of  Amon,  Re-Horus 
and  Ptah,  while  in  the  place  of  his  old  shrine  a 
new   and    magnificent   temple   was    built   for   him, 


Its  Development  69 


the  mighty  ruins  of  which  still  attest  its  former 
splendour. 

In  the  period  of  the  New  Kingdom,  when  Egypt 
was  in  closer  relation  with  the  neighbouring  lands  of 
Western  Asia,  many  foreign  deities  found  an  en- 
trance and  a  hospitable  reception  not  only  from 
barbarians  settled  in  Egypt  but  also  from  the 
strictly  orthodox  Egyptians  themselves.  This  was 
especially  the  case  with  the  Baalim,  who  were  iden- 
tified with  Set  and  worshipped  in  the  form  of  the 
same  monstrous  beasts  as  he  was  ;  further,  there  was 
Astarte,  who,  like  the  Babylonian  deity,  was  repre- 
sented as  a  naked  woman  standing  upon  her  sacred 
animal,  the  Hon,  or  else  with  a  lioness's  head,  accord- 
ing to  the  Egyptian  fashion.  We  find  the  warlike 
Reshep,  adorned  with  helmet  and  lance,  as  also  the 
urban  goddess,  Kadesh,  who  is  addressed,  like  the 
Egyptian  Hathor,  as  "  Lady  of  the  heavens," 
"  Ruler  of  all  gods,"  as  the  "  Eye  of  the  Sun-god,"  as 
the  "Daughter  of  Re  and  beloved  of  the  Sun-god." 
Anat,  the  Syrian  goddess  of  war,  also  won  for  her- 
self a  place  in  the  Egyptian  temples,  and  acquired 
such  popularity  that  Ramses  II.  named  after  her 
his  favourite  daughter,  Bint-Anat,  "  daughter  of 
Anat." 

But  in  the  first  millenium  before  Christ,  when  the 
friendly  relations  of  Egypt  to  Syria  and   Palestine 


JO     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


were  gradually  falling  off,  Set,  too,  declined  in  repu- 
tation, as  being  the  patron  of  the  Asiatics,  and  the 
Egyptians  began  to  regard  him  solely  as  the  pro- 
tector of  their  enemies.  Not  only  so,  but  the  priests 
gave  practical  effect  to  the  position  which  Set  occu- 
pied in  the  Osiris-legend,  and  inclined  to  regard  him 
more  and  more  as  the  incarnation  of  all  evil.  He 
had  slain  Osiris  and  sustained  a  severe  contest  with 
the  avenger  Horus.  He  thus  became  the  adversary 
of  the  sun-god  and  the  representative  of  darkness, 
the  lord  of  the  drought  and  the  desert  which  destroy 
all  life  ;  he  became  the  enemy  of  all  good,  the  Satan 
among  the  gods  of  Egypt.  The  end  of  the  process 
was  that  Set  was  expelled  from  the  Pantheon,  his 
cult  abolished,  his  name  and  his  portraits  extermi- 
nated wherever  found.  When  the  Greeks  learned 
of  him  they  compared  him  to  Typhon,  the  mythical 
adversary  of  Zeus,  who  was  overwhelmed  by  a  thun- 
derbolt after  a  fierce  struggle  and  hurled  down  to 
Tartarus. 

The  ejection  of  Set  was  the  last  sign  of  strong  life 
given  by  the  dying  Egyptian  religion.  With  the  de- 
cay of  the  chief  city,  Thebes,  which  was  accomplished 
slowly  but  continuously  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
Ethiopian  kings,  the  reputation  of  Amon-Re  de- 
clined more  and  more.  The  residence  of  the  Pha- 
raohs, and  with  it  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  realm, 


Its  Development  71 


was  shifted  northwards,  with  the  result  that  the  local 
gods  worshipped  in  the  Delta,  Neit  of  Sais,  Bubas- 
tis,  Anubis,  more  especially  Osiris  and  his  fam- 
ily, and  Harpokrates,  gained  greater  and  greater 
acceptance. 

The  advance  of  Greek  culture  introduced  the  wor- 
ship of  heroes.  Ancient  sages  to  whose  graves  pil- 
grimages had  been  made  since  the  earliest  days,  and 
who  had  been  revered  as  the  Arabs  of  to-day  revere 
their  pious  sheikhs,  were  received  among  the  number 
of  the  national  deities.  Thus  Amenothes  the  son  of 
Hapu,  the  famous  architect  of  the  third  Amenophis, 
became  a  demi-god  and  was  worshipped  in  several 
temples  of  the  western  Thebes  ;  so,  too,  was  deified 
the  holy  Imhotep.  This  man,  a  contemporary  of  the 
ancient  king  Zoser,  had  also  been  celebrated  as  an 
architect ;  it  was  believed  that  he  had  been  the  pos- 
sessor of  great  knowledge  and  had  especially  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  art  of  healing.  His  tomb, 
which  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  sepulchral 
pyramid  of  his  king,  close  to  the  step-pyramid  of 
Sakkara,  had  been  already  the  goal  of  pilgrims  who 
there  sought  healing  for  their  diseases.  A  temple 
was  now  built  there,  and  divine  rites  instituted  in 
honour  of  the  saint.  Imhotep  was  no  mere  de- 
ceased mortal  who  received  sacrifices  as  did  also 
other  dead  men ;  he  had  become  a  god.    The  priests 


72     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

pronounced  him  a  son  of  Ptah,  and  the  Greeks  iden- 
tified him,  in  accordance  with  his  attributes,  with 
their  god  of  healing,  Asklepios.  His  worship  spread 
from  Memphis  over  the  whole  land  ;  and  even  in  the 
distant  island  of  Philae,  situated  on  the  Nubian  fron- 
tier, a  chapel  was  erected  to  Imhotep  by  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus.' 

But  all  Egyptian  gods  were  thrown  into  the  shade 
by  the  new  god,  Serapis  (better  called  Sarapis),  whom 
the  first  Ptolemy  imported  into  the  Nile  valley  with 
mystic  solemnity.  A  vision  in  a  dream,  so  it  was  re- 
ported, had  caused  Ptolemy  Soter  to  have  the  great 
god  Zeus-Hades  carried  away  from  Sinope  on  the 
Black  Sea.  In  the  presence  of  Greek  and  Egyptian 
theologians,  among  whom  was  also  Manetho,  the  his- 
torian of  Egyptian  antiquity,  the  foreign  god  was  es- 
corted into  Alexandria  and  acknowledged  as  Serapis. 
Who  he  really  was  no  one  has  been  able  to  discover. 
At  any  rate  the  king's  wish  was  fulfilled,  that  the  new 
god  should  be  an  object  of  worship  to  the  Graeco- 
Egyptian  world,  before  whom  all  his  subjects  might 
bow  with  equal  reverence.  The  Greeks  saw  in  him 
the  greatest  god  of  the  universe,  uniting  in  his  own 
person  Zeus,  the  god  of  heaven,  Helios,  the  sun- 
god,  and  Hades,  the  lord  of  the  under  world.     The 

'  Cf.  Sethe,  Imhotep  der  Asklepios  der  Aegyplen  ein  vergdUerter 
Mensch  aus  der  Zeit  des  Koenigs  Doser  (Leipzig,  1902), 


Its  Development  y2t 


Egyptians,  on  the  other  hand,  were  led  by  a  simi- 
larity of  names  to  connect  him  with  a  god  of  the 
dead  worshipped  in  the  necropolis  of  Memphis,  the 
Apis-bull  deified  after  death,  the  Osiris-Apis  or  Osor- 
apis ;  and  they  believed  that  the  new  Serapis  was 
none  other  than  their  old  Osorapis.' 

The  cult  of  Serapis  found  acceptance  in  Egypt 
with  remarkable  celerity.  It  was  as  if  the  dwellers 
in  the  Nile  valley,  both  Greeks  and  Egyptians,  had 
despaired  of  the  old  gods  and  now  yearned  for  a 
new  heavenly  power.  Serapis  became  the  national 
god  of  Graeco-Roman  Egypt.  But  he,  too,  failed 
to  infuse  new  religious  life  into  the  people.  The 
harvest  was  ripe  for  the  sickle.  When  in  the  reign 
of  Theodosius  the  Great,  the  first  Christian  Emperor, 
the  Serapis  temple  at  Alexandria  sank  into  ruin, 
when  the  image  of  the  great  god — smitten  by  a 
soldier's  battle-axe — fell  with  a  crash  to  the  ground, 
then,  too,  Egyptian  paganism  received  its  death  blow. 
The  Egyptian  religion  fell  to  pieces  with  Serapis. 

'  Cf.  Ed.  Meyer,  Gcschichte  dcs  alien  Aegyptcns,  p.  401  /.;  Ma- 
haffy,  A  History  of  Egypt  under  the  Ptolemaic  Dynasty,  p.  56  ^.y 
Wilcken  in  the  Archiv  filr  Papyr usforschung,  iii.,  pp.  249-251, 


LECTURE  III. 

Temples  and  Ceremonies. 

"'TT^HE  Egyptians  are  exceedingly  god-fearing, 
X  more  than  all  other  peoples."  Such  is  the 
judgment  passed  by  Herodotus  in  the  fifth  century 
before  Christ  on  the  religious  character  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Nile  valley.'  And  that  which  was  true 
in  this  late  age  was  equally  true  in  the  earlier  periods 
of  Egyptian  history.  In  all  ages  the  Egyptian  was 
animated  by  a  lively  sense  of  religion.  It  was  al- 
ways his  zealous  endeavour  to  fulfill  the  will  of  his 
god,  to  pay  him  due  reverence,  and  to  commit  no 
sacrilege  in  his  sanctuary. 

One  room  of  an  Egyptian  house  would  contain  a 

small  chapel  with  an  image  or  likeness  of  the  god, 

3vhere  the  family  would  offer  prayer  and  sacrifice. 

Outside    in    the   streets    there    would    stand    little 

(shrines;    in    the   fields   there   would    be    altars    on 

I'which  the  husbandman  would  deposit  his  offerings. 

\  lAncient  Egypt  probably  presented  an   aspect  like 

jthat  of  a  Catholic  country  in   modern   Europe,  in 

'  Herodotus,  ii.,  37. 
74 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  75 


which  images  of  saints  and  chapels  meet  us  at  every 
step.     The  minor  centres  of  worship,  it  is  true,  have 
left  very  few  relics  that  have  been  preserved  down 
to   the   present  time ;    only  the  great   temples   are    , 
represented  by  ruins  of  any  considerable  extent.         /l!/ 

The  oldest  form  of  the  Egyptian  temple,  as  it  was 
in  the  prehistoric  age,  is  to  be  ascertained  only  from 
small  hieroglyphic  pictures.  According  to  these,  it 
consisted  in  a  little  hut,  built  of  wood  or  lattice- 
work. Two  large  poles  were  erected  before  the 
entrance,  and  over  the  door  two  staves  were  placed 
obliquely  for  ornament.  The  holy  place  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  palisade  which  prevented  unauthorised 
persons  from  entering.* 

By  the  time  of  the  Old  Kingdom  the  temple  had 
already  advanced  beyond  this  primitive  form.  The 
fabric  was  of  bricks  or  of  still  more  solid  material, 
limestone  or  even  granite ;  the  interior  was  adorned 
with  colonnades  and  the  walls  sculptured  in  relief. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  we  are  acquainted  with 
only  one  kind  of  temple  belonging  to  this  period, 
and  that  differing  considerably  in  its  arrangement 
from  the  usual  type.""  I  mean  the  remarkable  tem- 
ples of  the  Sun  which  were  erected  by  the  kings  of 

•  Cp.  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  pp.  279,  280. 

*  I  omit  here  the  Pyramid-temples,  which  were  devoted  to  the 
cult  of  the  dead  Pharaohs  in  the  Old  Empire;  on  these  compare 
Lecture  IV. 


76     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


the  Fifth  Dynasty  in  the  necropohs  of  Abusir,  about 
ten  miles  to  the  south  of  the  great  Pyramids  of 
Ghizeh.*  One  of  them,  that  built  by  KingNewoser- 
re,  was  excavated  in  the  years  1 898-1 901,  and  all  its 
spaces  exposed  to  view.  A  gently  rising  causeway 
jled  from  the  metropolis  in  the  valley  up  to  the  low 
eminence  on  which  the  sanctuary  stood.  A  magnifi- 
cent gateway  afforded  entrance  to  a  large  open  court, 
in  which  a  huge  obelisk  stood  on  a  supporting  struct- 
ure disguised  by  handsome  blocks  of  red  granite.  In 
front  of  it  was  a  gigantic  altar,  composed  of  great 
blocks  of  alabaster.  To  the  right  of  the  entrance 
a  covered  passage  led  to  the  treasure-chambers  of 
the  temple,  in  which  the  utensils  employed  in  wor- 
ship and  other  valuables  were  preserved.  To  the 
left,  a  corresponding  passage  followed  the  southern 
wall,  then,  bending  northwards,  led  to  the  sub- 
structure of  the  obelisk,  and  there,  winding  like  a 
spiral  staircase,  ascended  to  a  platform  in  the  open. 
At  the  foot  of  the  obelisk  was  a  small  chapel,  adorned 
with  graceful  sculptures  in  relief.  All  of  these  re- 
presented the  various  ceremonies  performed  on  the 
occasion  of  the  king's  Jubilee,  and  among  them  the 
laying  of  the    foundation-stone  of  the  Sun-temple 

*  Cp.  Zeitschrift  filr  aegypt.  Sprache  und  Alter tumskunde,  vol. 
xxxvii.  (1899),  p.  xff.;  vol.  xxxviii.  (1900),  p.  <^\ff-j  vol.  xxxix, 
(1901),  p.  91/-. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  ']'] 


played  a  great  part.  The  chapel  itself,  as  has 
been  conjectured  with  great  probability,  was  the 
vestry  used  by  the  Pharaoh  at  his  Jubilee,  in 
which  he  was  adorned  with  the  different  festive- 
garments. 

Of  the  great  sanctuaries  of  the  Middle  Kingdom, 
built  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  millennium  be- 
fore Christ  in  the  various  chief  cities  of  the  land, 
Thebes,  Koptos,  Medinet-el-Fayoum,  Bubastis,  and 
Tanis,  none  has  been  preserved  entire;  they  were 
mostly  destroyed  in  the  troubled  times  of  the  Hyksos 
rule,  and  what  remained  of  them  was  used  over  again 
in  building  new  temples.  So  much,  however,  is  clear, 
namely,  that  in  their  construction  the  plan  followed 
by  the  later  sanctuaries  had  already  been  adopted. 
Let  us  now  endeavour  to  realise  to  ourselves  what 
this  type  was.' 

A  paved  road  bordered  by  Sphinxes  or  other 
recumbent  animal  figures  led  through  the  ancient 
city  to  the  holy  precinct,  the  Temenos,  which  was 
enclosed  by  a  wall  of  bricks.  Entrance  was  afforded 
by  a  stone  gateway  with  a  fluted  projection  bearing 
the  symbol  of  the  winged  sun.  Passing  through,  we 
have  before  us  a  great  pylon,  a  huge  gate  flanked  by 

'  Cp.  the  plan  of  the  small  temple  of  Ramses  III.  or  the  temple  of 
Khons,  built  by  the  same  king  in  Karnak;  Baedeker's  Egypt,  5th 
edition,  p.  247  and  p.  243^. 


yS     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

two  towers,  placed  before  the  narrow  frontage  of  the 
temple.  Within,  we  see  first  a  wide,  open  court, 
with  colonnades  on  several  of  its  sides.  In  the  midst 
of  it  is  the  great  altar,  round  which  the  faithful  gather 
on  days  of  festival.  They  were  not  allowed  to 
penetrate  further  into  the  temple.  Adjoining  this 
columned  court,  in  the  direction  of  the  long  axis 
of  the  building,  is  the  temple  proper,  standing  on 
an  artificial  platform.  It  must  have  contained  at 
least  three  main  spaces.  First  was  an  ante-chamber 
or  npovaoi,  with  a  roof  supported  by  columns ; 
beyond  that  the  hypostyle  or  hall  of  columns.  Gen- 
erally this  took  the  form  of  a  triple  basilica,  with 
a  lofty  central  nave  supported  by  columns  and  two 
lower  naves  on  each  side.  From  it  access  was 
gained  to  the  Holy  of  Holies,  the  true  dwelling 
place  of  the  godhead.  This  consisted,  as  a  rule,  of 
three  chapels  placed  side  by  side.  The  middle  one 
housed  the  image  of  the  chief  god — at  Thebes,  for 
example,  that  of  Amon.  In  the  other  two  the  ac- 
cessory  deities — at  Thebes  Mut  and  the  moon-god 
Khons — found  a  resting-place. 

The  whole  design  of  the  temples  resembled 
that  of  an  ancient  Egyptian  house  occupied  by  a 
private  citizen.'  This,  too,  was  divided  into  three 
parts   lying  one  behind  another:  a  reception-space 

'  Herodotus,  ii.,  153. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  79 


analogous  to  the  Ttporao?,  a  banqueting  hall,  and 
the  private  apartment  of  the  householder.  In  view  of 
this  similiarity  the  Egyptians  were  fully  entitled  to 
designate  the  temple  as  the  "  House  of  the  God."  But 
just  as  an  Egyptian  of  rank  would  hardly  have  been 
content  with  three  rooms,  so  the  god,  as  a  rule,  was 
allowed  more  chambers  in  his  temple  than  those  I 
have  described.  Thus  the  hall  of  columns  was  com- 
monly separated  from  the  Holy  of  Holies  by  addi- 
tional halls  ;  while  smaller  rooms,  often  to  the  number 
of  dozens,  were  built  against  its  sides.  More  particu- 
larly, the  later  temples  contained  a  special  sanctuary 
placed  before  the  Holy  of  Holies.  In  it  was  pre- 
served the  sacred  boat,  within  which  was  a  special 
image  of  the  god. 

Besides  these  temples  of  simple  design  there  were 
others  of  greater  size  and  complexity.  I  need  only 
mention  those  of  Luxor  and  Karnak,  which  cannot 
be  made  to  conform  to  the  type  which  I  have  de- 
scribed. The  singularity  of  their  plan  may  be  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  they  were  not  constructed 
from  a  single  design,  but  owed  their  form  to  the 
projects  of  several  different  architects.  Each  of 
these  wished  to  build  himself  a  specially  magnificent 
monument  in  the  form  of  an  addition  to  the  temple, 
and,  in  doing  so,  to  surpass  the  work  of  his  predeces- 
sors.    In  this  manner  the  temple  at  Karnak  acquired 


8o     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


no  fewer  than  five  gateways,  one  behind  another, 
while  the  temple  at  Luxor  was  provided  with  as 
many  as  three  great  courts. 

The  sacred  animal,  in  which  the  deity  had  his 
earthly  residence,  was  also,  as  a  rule,  lodged  in  a 
special  house  near  the  temple.  Thus  Apis,  the  sacred 
bull  of  Memphis,  had  his  abode  near  the  temple  of 
Ptah,  of  whom  he  was  the  incarnation.  In  a  later  age 
this  abode  was  rebuilt  for  him  by  King  Psammetichus, 
and  consisted  of  an  open  court  surrounded  by  a  hall. 
Its  roof  was  supported  by  pillars  against  which  stood 
statues  of  kings  and  gods;  while  the  walls,  just  as 
in  the  case  of  a  temple,  were  adorned  with  paintings 
and  reliefs.  Similarly,  in  the  city  of  Arsinoe,  in  the 
district  of  the  P'ayoum,  there  was  a  lake  close  by  the 
temple  of  the  god  Sobek  in  which  the  sacred  animal, 
the  crocodile,  was  kept. 

"  It  was  fed,"  so  we  are  told  by  the  Roman  traveller 
Strabo,  who  visited  Egypt  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  "on 
bread,  meat,  and  wine,  brought  by  the  strangers  who 
came  to  see  it.  Our  host  accompanied  us  to  the  lake, 
taking  with  him  a  small  cake  from  his  meal,  with  some 
roast  meat  and  a  flask  of  wine.  We  found  the  animal 
lying  on  the  bank  ;  the  priests  came  forward,  and  while 
one  of  them  held  his  mouth  open  another  pushed  in  the 
cake,  then  the  meat,  and  poured  the  wine  after  them. 
The  crocodile  then  jumped  into  the  lake  and  swam  to 
the  opposite  bank.    Another  stranger  now  appeared  bear- 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  8i 


ing  a  similar  gift.     The  priests  took  it  from  his  hands,  ran 
round  the  lake  and  fed  the  animal  as  before. 


>>  1 


Outside  the  house  of  the  god  proper,  but  within 
the  large  walled-in  temple-precinct,  there  would  also 
be  found  several  chapels,  the  priests'  lodgings,  ex- 
tensive farm-buildings,  granaries,  stalls,  gardens,  and 
ponds,  so  that  the  whole  may  well  have  presented 
the  aspect  of  a  small  city. 

All  the  smooth  surfaces  in  an  Egyptian  temple, 
the  masonry  of  the  pylon,  the  walls  of  the  courts, 
the  halls  and  the  other  enclosures  devoted  to  worship, 
were  from  the  earliest  days  covered  with  pictorial 
representations  and  hieroglyphic  inscriptions.  The 
outer  walls,  those  of  the  pylon  and  the  courts,  those 
parts  of  the  sanctuary,  that  is  to  say,  which  were  ex- 
posed to  the  profane  gaze  of  the  multitude,  were 
employed  for  the  glorification  of  things  secular :  the 
great  deeds  of  the  King  in  battle  against  his  enemies, 
great  festivals,  or  other  important  events  of  his  reign. 
Thus  in  the  temple  of  Deir-el-Bahri,  at  Thebes,  we 
find  immortalised  on  the  wall  of  one  of  the  courts  that 
trading  expedition  which  in  the  time  of  Queen  Hat- 
shepsowet  travelled  to  Punt,  the  distant,  legend-en- 
circled land  of  frankincense,  and  returned  to  the 
chief  city  of  the  empire  laden  with  all  manner  of 
marvellous  things.     Here  everything  was  designed 

'  Strabo,  xvii.,  i,  38. 


82     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


to  give  the  beholder  a  conception  of  the  might  and 
majesty  of  the  Pharaoh. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  inner  walls  of  the  temple 
proper  were  devoted  to  the  representation  of  the 
sacred  ceremonies  which  were  performed  in  the 
edifice.  We  there  see  the  king  in  festive-garb, 
standing  before  the  god,  to  whom  he  offers  in- 
cense, pours  out  water,  or  brings  gifts  of  wine, 
milk,  cakes,  and  garlands  of  flowers.  In  return  the 
god  presents  him  with  life,  the  most  precious  of  all 
gifts,  which  is  symbolised  by  a  hieroglyphic  signify- 
ing "  life."  Other  representations  show  us  Pharaoh 
being  crowned  by  the  guardian  gods  of  the  South 
and  the  North,  or  the  chief  god  of  the  temple  is  in- 
scribing his  name  on  the  leaves  of  a  sacred  sycamore, 
in  order  to  insure  the  perpetual  continuance  of  his 
government.  Many  of  these  delineations  have  a 
purely  decorative  purpose ;  others,  however,  relate 
to  the  rites  proper  to  the  particular  portion  of  the 
temple  in  which  they  are  found.  In  the  reception- 
hall,  for  example,  we  frequently  see  the  king  being 
sprinkled  with  holy  water  by  the  gods  Horus  and 
Thout,  after  which  he  is  conducted  into  the  divine 
presence,  purified  from  the  dust  of  every-day  life. 
Or  we  see  him  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  performing  all 
manner  of  ceremonies  before  the  sacred  boat  of  the 
divinity. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  83 


It  must  be  confessed  that  there  is  little  variety  in 
these  delineations,  especially  in  the  temples  of  the 
later  period,  and  the  accompanying  inscriptions  are 
no  less  tedious  in  their  monotony.  These  reproduce 
the  various  speeches  addressed  by  the  king  to  the  god 
and  by  the  god  to  the  king.  The  Pharaoh  informs 
the  god  a  hundred  times  that  he  has  brought  him 
incense  or  loaves  or  wine ;  and  the  god  replies  with 
similar  iteration  that  he  will  bestow  on  the  Pharaoh 
"  all  life,  all  security,  all  continuance,  all  health,  and 
all  gladness  of  heart,"  or  that  he  will  "  prolong  his 
years  everlastingly  and  give  him  sovereignty  over  a 
rejoicing  world." 

Of  the  sacred  utensils  used  in  divine  worship,  the 
golden  pitchers  and  goblets,  the  receptacles  for  the 
prayer  and  service  books,  the  vessels  for  holding  in- 
cense, and  so  on,  but  little  has  been  preserved  to  us. 
Vast  as  was  the  number  of  these  articles  kept  in  the 
great  sanctuaries  of  the  country,  mostly  as  the  gift 
of  the  Pharaohs,  they  have  all  fallen  a  welcome  prey  to 
invaders  and  temple-robbers  during  the  great  revo- 
lutions which  have  convulsed  the  land.  The  same 
fate  has  visited  the  most  valuable  possession  of  the 
temples,  the  sacred  bark  with  the  divine  image.  For 
where  this  image  was  not  a  simple  primitive  fetish, 
it  was  wrought  out  of  gold,  silver,  or  gilded  bronze ; 
while  the  sacred  boat,  in  which  the  god  was  borne  in 


84     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


solemn  processions,  was  fabricated  of  costly  mate- 
rials and  adorned  with  gold,  silver,  or  precious  stones. 

The  architectural  and  sculptural  adornments  of 
the  temples  are  represented  by  more  ample  remains ; 
in  many  places  the  slender  obelisks,  raised,  it  would 
appear,  by  the  kings  on  the  jubilee  of  their  reign, 
still  stand  before  the  entrance  gateway ;  there,  too, 
as  also  in  the  courts  and  halls,  the  stone  statues  of 
the  gods  and  Pharaohs  are  still  erect  and  imposing.' 

Any  one  who  reads  the  inscriptions  on  these  monu- 
ments, or  even  regards  the  pictures  and  reliefs  on 
the  temple  walls,  may  easily  derive  the  impression 
that  the  sanctuary  was  built  solely  for  the  greater 
glory  of  the  Pharaoh,  and  that  he  was  the  only  man 
to  whom  any  familiar  intercourse  with  the  gods  was 
granted.  In  theory  it  probably  was  so;  the  king 
alone  had  the  right  to  serve  the  god  without  inter- 
mediary, to  behold  him  and  speak  with  him.  But  in 
practice  it  was  generally  otherwise.  It  is  only  on 
rare  occasions  that  we  hear  of  such  exclusive  rights 
being  reserved  for  himself  by  a  ruler.  When  the 
Ethiopian  king,  Piankhi,  marched  from  the  south 
with  his  victorious  army  into  the  heart  of  Egypt 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  he  came  to 
Heliopolis,  among  other  places,  and  paid  his  formal 
visit  to  the  celebrated  sanctuary  of  the  sun-god. 
^  E,  g.,  in  the  temple  of  Luxor;  cf.  Baedeker,  p.  239, 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  85 


"  He  ascended  the  steps  to  behold  the  Sun-god  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies.  The  King  stood  there  alone  ;  he  un- 
sealed the  bolt,  opened  the  folding  doors,  and  beheld  his 
father  Re  [the  Sun-god]  in  the  glorious  Holy  of  Holies  ; 
he  beheld,  also,  the  morning  bark  of  Re  and  the  evening 
bark  of  Atum.  Then  he  closed  the  folding  doors  again, 
laid  clay  thereon,  and  sealed  it  with  his  royal  seal. 
Thereupon  he  gave  command  to  the  priests  :  '  I  have 
[laid  hereon]  my  seal,  and  of  all  the  men  that  shall  be 
no-one  of  the  other  kings  shall  enter.'  "  ^ 

As  a  rule  the  priests  also  held  converse  with  the 
god,  being,  as  it  were,  the  king's  representatives. 
It  was  their  task  to  care  for  the  god's  needs,  to 
clothe  him,  to  rouge  him,  to  place  his  adornments 
upon  him,  to  cleanse  his  private  apartment,  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  and  perfume  it  with  incense.  And  if  at 
the  royal  court  all  intercourse  with  the  earthly 
sovereign  was  regulated  by  the  strictest  ceremonial, 
how  much  stricter  must  have  been  the  rules  observed 
in  the  divine  presence  !  A  fixed  ritual  governed  the 
ceremonies  and  formulae  of  greeting  with  which  it 
was  necessary  to  approach  and  serve  the  deity. 
There  were  no  fewer  than  sixty  rites  which  the 
priests  of  the  Theban  Amon  were  required  to  per- 
form ;  the  hierophants  of  Osiris  at  Abydos  had 
easier  duties,  for  here  the  number  of  separate  rites 
did  not  exceed  thirty-six.     During  the  performance 

'Inscription  of  Piankhi,  1.,  103^. 


86     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


of  each  ceremony  a  particular  formula  was  required 
to  be  recited,  the  exact  knowledge  of  which  was  in- 
dispensable ;  not  infrequently  it  was  inscribed  on 
the  temple  wall  itself,  and  the  priest  with  his  know- 
ledge of  hieroglyphics  might  read  it  thence. 

When,  for  example,  the  priest  entered  the  hall  of 
columns,  censer  in  hand,  at  Abydos,  it  was  his  duty 
to  repeat  the  following  words  : 

"  I    come   out   before  thee,  thou  great  one,  having  first 

cleansed  myself  ; 
"  When  I  passed  by  the  goddess  Tefnut   she  cleansed 

me.     .     .     . 
"  I  am  a  prophet,   and   the   son    of   a   prophet   of   this 

temple  ;     .     .     . 
"  I  am  a  prophet,  and  come  to  do  that  which  ought  to  be 

done,  but  I  come  not  to  do  that  which  ought  not 

to  be  done." 

After  that,  when  the  priest  arrives  at  the  chapel 
itself  where  the  god  has  his  seat,  he  must  first  of  all 
break  the  clay-seal  with  which  the  bolt  is  secured, 
and,  as  he  does  so,  recite  a  sentence : 

"  The  clay  is  broken  and  the  seal  destroyed  that  this 
door  may  be  opened,  and  all  the  evil  that  is  upon  me  I 
thus  throw  to  the  ground." 

To  the  accompaniment  of  similar  speeches  the 
door  is  opened,  the  priest  greets  the  uraeus-serpent 
which  guards  the  god,  and  now  sets  foot  in  the  Holy 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  2>y 

of  Holies.  He  approaches  the  divine  image  and 
commences  its  toilet,  which  will  have  differed  little 
from  that  of  a  mortal  man.  First,  the  god  is  dis- 
robed ;  every  act  accompanied,  of  course,  by  the  ap- 
pointed sentence.  The  old  rouge  is  removed  and 
the  garments  taken  off.  The  priest  then  clothes 
the  god  in  clean  raiment,  lays  on  fresh  rouge,  and 
adds  all  manner  of  adornments.  When  the  god  is 
once  more  in  perfect  trim,  the  priest  leaves  the 
apartment  and  reseals  the  door.  And  this  divine 
toilet  was  gone  through  every  morning  with  the 
same  circumstantiality  !  It  was  much  the  same  with 
the  daily  cleansing  and  fumigation  of  the  chapel.' 
But  clothing  and  lodging  were  not  the  only  needs 
of  the  god  for  which  provision  had  to  be  made ; 
above  everything  he  must  be  kept  supplied  with 
food  and  drink.  This  alimentary  problem  occupied 
at  all  times  a  great  (perhaps  the  greatest)  space  in 
the  service  of  the  god.  Originally  it  was  no  doubt 
solved  by  the  pious  gifts  of  private  persons,  who 
brought  to  the  god  the  first  fruits  of  their  fields  and 
gardens,  together  with  what  was  best  in  the  products 
of  their  houses.  But,  later,  these  private  gifts  were 
thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  rich  offerings  which 
came    from    the    state,    that    is,    from    the    king, 

'  Cp.   Mariette,  Abydos,  i.,  3^ff;  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt, 
273  if- 


88     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


to  the  temples  throughout  the  land.  Vast  quanti- 
ties of  incense,  of  flowers  for  the  adornment  of  the 
altars,  of  honey,  loaves,  cakes,  cattle,  poultry  (more 
especially  geese),  beer,  and  wine  were  employed  in 
this  manner.  Of  all  this  the  smallest  portion,  it  is  true, 
was  employed  for  the  benefit  of  the  god  himself,  in  the 
different  incense  and  drink  offerings.  The  slaugh- 
tered animals  were  no  doubt  laid  upon  the  altar  in 
the  temple  court,  but  they  were  not  then  consumed 
by  fire  as  burnt-offerings,  in  the  manner  common 
among  other  peoples.  The  greater  part  of  the  food 
and  drink  that  came  to  the  temples  was  used  rather 
for  the  sustenance  of  the  priests  and  the  lower  temple 
officials.  Besides,  out  of  the  mass  of  offerings  which 
were  received  on  the  great  festivals  of  the  year,  a  large 
part  was  employed  in  the  entertainment  of  visitors 
to  the  temple.  The  divinity,  whose  house  the  sanctu- 
ary was,  extended  to  his  guests  the  same  friendly 
hospitality  as  a  mortal  householder  in  his  own  home. 
"  Of  feasts  there  were  many,  in  every  year,  in  every 
temple."'  Herodotus,  in  a  later  age,  can  still  report 
that  the  Egyptians  assemble  together  to  keep  festi- 
val, not  once,  but  frequently,  in  the  course  of  a  year.' 
On  these  occasions  festival  plays  were  generally  en- 
acted. As  in  the  mediaeval  mysteries  or  the  passion 
plays  of  to-day,  the  priests  gave  representations  of 

^  Herodotus,  ii.,  59. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  89 


episodes  in  the  history  of  the  god  in  whose  honour 
the  feast  was  held.  Thus  at  Abydos  the  fortunes 
of  Osiris  were  brought  on  the  stage ;  the  god  was 
escorted  from  his  temple  in  the  city  to  his  grave  out 
in  the  desert,  and  there  the  great  battle  in  which  the 
god  had  smitten  his  enemies  was  set  forth  by  priests 
and  people  in  a  Hving  reproduction.' 

There  were  processions,  also,  in  which  one  god 
solemnly  visited  another  in  his  temple,  and  there,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  was  entertained,  along  with  his 
escort,  with  meat  and  cakes.  Among  these  festivals 
there  are  some  of  which  we  learn  something  from 
the  delineations  on  the  temple  walls  ;  for  example, 
the  great  sacrificial  feast  in  honour  of  the  old  har- 
vest-god, Min,  was  celebrated  at  the  same  time  as  the 
king's  coronation  with  great  pomp.^ 

Concerning  a  few  feasts  we  have  more  exact  in- 
formation, and  we  know  how  they  were  kept  in  a 
later  age  in  the  cities  of  Lower  Egypt,  Bubastis, 
Busiris,  Sais,  Buto,  and  other  places,  in  honour  of  the 
respective  local  divinities."  One  of  the  most  popular 
of  them  was  that  held  in  honour  of  Bastet  at  Bubas- 
tis in  the  Delta.    Thither,  as  Herodotus*  tells  us,  the 

'  Cp.  Heinrich  Schaefer,  Die  Mysterien  des  Osiris  in  Abydos  utiter 
Konig  Sesostris  III.  (Leipzig,  1904),  p.  20^. 

^  Lepsius,  Denkm.,  iii.,  162-164,  212,  213;  Wilkinson,  Costumes 
and  Manners,  iii.,  pi.  xl.     Cp.  Erman,  Life,  p.  i^S  ff- 

2  Herodotus,  ii.,  59-64.  ''Herodotus,  ii.,  60, 


90     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


participants,  men  and  women,  came  in  boats,  even 
from  great  distances.  It  was  an  exceedingly  jovial 
feast,  and  the  pilgrims  began  having  a  good  time 
while  still  on  the  way.  The  sounds  of  song  and 
music  floated  over  the  waters.  The  women  had 
rattles,  the  men  played  flutes,  others  sang  or  kept 
time  by  clapping  their  hands.  The  party  would 
land  at  villages  which  they  passed  and  play  all  man- 
ner of  pranks.  When  at  length  the  goal,  Bubastis, 
was  reached,  great  sacrifices  would  be  offered,  and 
"  at  this  feast  more  wine  went  than  throughout  the 
rest  of  the  year."  No  fewer  than  700,000  persons 
are  said  to  have  taken  part  in  one  of  these  feasts, 
and,  though  this  number  may  be  exaggerated, 
Bubastis  certainly  harboured  within  its  walls  on  such 
festal  days  as  many  visitors  as,  say,  the  modern 
Egyptian  town  of  Tanta  does  at  the  present  time 
on  the  occasion  of  the  yearly  market  coupled  with 
the  birthday  feast  of  its  saint. 

There  were  numerous  hymns  and  spiritual  songs 
in  which  the  gods  were  extolled  by  priests  and  peo- 
ple. Many  of  them  breathe  sincere  religious  feel- 
ing, and  exhibit  a  poetic  fervour  which  awakes  a 
response  even  in  the  modern  reader ;  in  most,  how- 
ever, the  deeper  meaning  is  overborne  by  a  quite 
intolerable  flood  of  continually  recurring  phrases. 
In  my  second  lecture  I  have  already  quoted  to  you 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  91 


samples  from  this  branch  of  literature  ;  perhaps  you 
will  be  disposed  to  listen  to  a  few  more  and  form  an 
idea  for  yourselves  of  the  form  and  contents  of  these 
poems. 

To  begin  with,  I  will  translate  to  you  some  lines 
from  a  hymn  to  the  god  Thout,  the  Greek  Hermes, 
in  which  he  is  praised  first  as  the  god  of  the  moon, 
then  as  the  god  of  scholars  and  as  a  judge ' : 

"  I  come  to  thee,  thou  bull  among  the  stars, 
Thout,  thou  moon  that  art  in  heaven  : 
Thou  art  in  heaven,  yet  thy  splendour  rests  upon  the 

earth, 
Thy  ray  lighteth  Egypt. 

Praised  be  thou,  thou  lord  of  the  hieroglyphs, 
Thou  judge  in  heaven  and  upon  earth  ; 
Thou  who  givest  words  and  writing, 
Who  bestowest  goods  and  fillest  houses. 
Who  teachest  the  knowledge  of  the  gods,  what  is  due 
to  them." 
Again  there  is  beauty  of  expression  and    truth  of 
feeling  in  a  prayer  which  is  addressed  to  Amon-Re, 
the  king  of  the  gods,  and  which  extols  him  as  the 
great  pantheistic  deity  '' : 

"  O  my  God,  Lord  of  the  gods,  Amon-Re  of  Thebes, 
Stretch  out  thy  hand  to  me,  save  me  ; 
Rise  up  for  me  [as  the  sun,  that  is],  revive  me. 

•Cp.  Zeitschrift  fur  agypt.  Sprache,  1895,  p.  21. 

''Inscription  on  a  wooden  statue  in  the  Berlin  Museum;  cp.  Aus- 
fuhrlichcs  Verzischuis  der  aegyptischen  AltertUnner,  2d  ed.,  p.  142, 
143  (No.  6910). 


92     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


\ 


Thou  art  the  one  god  that  hath  no  equal, 

The  sun  that  riseth  in  the  heavens, 

[The  god]  Atum,  who  created  man. 

Thou  hearest  the  prayer  of  him  that  calleth  upon 

thee, 
Thou  deliverest  man  from  the  hand  of  the  mighty  .  . . 
Thou  givest  breath  to  that  which  is  still  in  the  egg, 

to  men  and  to  birds  ; 
Thou  makest  that  whereof  the  mice  have  need  in 

their  holes,  and  the  worms  and  the  fleas." 

Many  of  these  phrases  are  specially  applicable  to  the 
sun-god,  and  resemble  those  in  the  great  hymn 
of  the  heretic  king  of  which  you  heard  in  my  last 
lecture. 

In  the  earliest  times  the  functions  of  religion  were 
not  yet  the  exclusive  concern  of  a  special  priest- 
hood, but  were  the  common  property  of  the  whole 
people.  It  is  true  that  each  temple  had  its  staff  of 
officials  who  offered  sacrifices  and  permanently  at- 

I  tended  to  the  service  of  the  god  ;  at  the  same  time 
every  person  of  rank,  in  addition  to  his  secular  call- 
ing, was  invested  with  some  religious  office.  These 
sacerdotal  functions  were  often  connected  with  the 
civil  office  of  the  man  who  performed  them;  judges, 

)  for  example,  were  frequently  also  priests  of  Maat,  the 
goddess  of  justice,  and  the  local  princes  were  often 
at  the  same  time  the  high  priests  of  the  guardian 
gods  who  protected  their  respective  districts. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  93 


The  statement  of  Herodotus '  that  no  woman  could 
hold  the  priestly  office  in  the  service  of  either  a  god 
or  a  goddess  is  certainly  not  true  of  the  earliest 
period  of  Egyptian  history.  Women  were  then 
often  employed  in  the  temples,  and  we  find  frequent 
mention  of  priestesses,  more  especially  in  connection 
with  the  worship  of  goddesses,  such  as  Hathor  and 
Neit. 

Under  the  Middle  Kingdom  the  number  of  pro- 
fessed priests  was  still  small  relatively  to  the  lay  ele- 
ment. Often  there  were  only  two  of  them,  and  at 
most  they  hardly  exceeded  five.  In  addition  to  these 
there  were  naturally  various  minor  ecclesiastics,  door- 
keepers, watchmen,  and  workmen  of  all  kinds.  In 
certain  temples  the  official  priesthood  included  the 
"  high  priest,"  or,  as  he  is  called  in  Egyptian,  "  the 
prefect  of  the  prophets."  But  as  a  rule  this  office 
was  filled  by  a  layman,  who,  by  an  old  custom,  was 
the  governor  of  the  district.  The  latter  thus  pos- 
sessed not  only  the  highest  legal  and  administrative 
power  in  his  nome,  but  was  also  ecclesiastically  su- 
preme ;  it  was  his  duty  to  attend  to  the  interests  of 
religion  within  his  jurisdiction,  and  this  addition  to 
his  functions  no  doubt  brought  him  not  only  honour 
but  considerable  pecuniary  advantages  as  well.  A 
functionary  who   was  everywhere  a  member  of  the 

'  Herodotus,  ii.,  35. 


94     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


professional  priesthood  was  the  "  first  priestly  lector" 
of  the  temple.  He  was  the  trained  theologian  of 
the  college,  the  one  who  possessed  a  knowledge  of 
the  sacred  books,  who  could  write,  and,  above  all, 
read.  His  function  was  to  read  aloud  from  the 
sacred  books ;  he  knew  the  legends  of  the  early  ages 
and  was  well  versed  in  the  magic  texts.  What  won- 
der if  he,  too,  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  great 
wizard,  and  if  the  earliest  priest-lectors  of  the  primi- 
tive age  figured  in  popular  tales  as  having  wrought 
by  their  wisdom  all  manner  of  wonderful  and  mys- 
terious things  ! ' 

Besides  the  professional  priesthood  there  also  ex- 
isted a  numerous  army  of  lay  priests,  or  "  hour- 
priests,"  as  the  Egyptians  called  them.  These  men 
were  organised  in  a  permanent  corporation,  affiliated 
to  the  temple.  They  were  divided  into  four  groups, 
the  so-called  phylce,  each  one  of  which  was  on 
duty  in  the  temple  for  a  month  at  a  time,  so  that 
Qv &ry  phyle  had  three  turns  in  the  course  of  a  year. 
Y-diCh.  phyle  had  a  special  president,  and  further  num- 
bered in  its  ranks  a  scribe  of  the  temple  and  a  priest- 
reader,  men,  that  is  to  say,  who  were  "  scientifically  " 
educated,  and  who  in  civil  life  were  doubtless  reck- 
oned among  the  "  scribes  "  or  officials. 

While,  however,  the   permanent  priests  enjoyed 

'  Cp.  Erman,  Die  Marc  hen  des  Papyrus  Westcar.,  i.,  p.  2i. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  95 


comfortable  salaries,  drawn  from  the  manifold  reve- 
nues of  the  temple,  the  lay  priests  received  but 
slender  remuneration.  In  fact  they  derived  the 
major  part  of  their  income  from  their  civil  calling, 
and  could  therefore  perform  their  religious  functions 
in  return  for  only  a  little  pay.  Thus  we  learn  from 
account-books  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  that  out  of 
certain  revenues  belonging  to  the  temple,  which  were 
posted  every  month,  only  three  portions  went  to  the 
prefect  of  the  lay-assistants,  while  the  chief  priest- 
lector,  an  official  lower  in  rank  but  belonging  to  the 
professional  priesthood,  received  double  the  amount, 
or  six  portions.  Moreover,  the  latter  received  his 
share  twelve  times  a  year,  while  the  lay  brother, 
owing  to  the  monthly  rotation  of  the  phylcs,  was 
only  paid  three  times  in  the  same  interval.' 

We  have  now  to  mention  a  noteworthy  fact  in  the 
history  of  civilisation,  namely,  that  in  the  New  King- 
dom, which  followed  the  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos 
from  Egypt,  a  period  in  which  religion  was  winning 
for  itself  a  greater  and  greater  space  in  public  life,  the 
lay  element  was  practically  eliminated  from  the 
priestly  ofifice,  and  divine  worship  placed  entirely  in 
the  charge  of  the  professional  priests.  It  is  clear 
that  the  number  of  the  latter  must  have  been  very 
considerably    increased.      Many    tasks   which    had 

'  Cp.  Zeitschrift  fiir  ag.  Spr.,  1902  (40),  p.  113  ff- 


96     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


formerly  been  entrusted  to  the  laity  now  devolved 
upon  the  regulars,  and,  concurrently  with  the  un- 
ceasing accumulation  of  wealth  by  the  sanctuaries, 
administrative  functions  required  the  employment 
of  a  great  number  of  workers. 

The  variety  and  extent  of  the  functions  performed 
by  individual  priests  may  be  clearly  seen  from  the 
titles  which  they  bore  in  addition  to  their  principal 
designation.'  Thus  the  "  First  Prophet,"  or  the  high 
priest  of  Amon,  was  at  the  same  time  the  "  Great 
Superintendent  of  Works,"  and  in  this  capacity  was 
required  to  take  under  his  charge  the  extensive  build- 
ing operations  connected  with  the  temple,  and  "  to 
provide  splendour  in  his  sanctuary."  As  "  General 
of  the  Troops  of  the  God  "  he  commanded  the  mili- 
tary forces  of  the  temple,  like  a  mediaeval  archbishop, 
and  as  "  Prefect  of  the  Treasury  "  had  under  his  con- 
trol the  by  no  means  simple  administration  of  the 
finances.  Nor  did  his  authority  extend  only  over 
the  Amon  temple  and  its  priesthood.  He  was  also 
"  Prefect  of  the  Prophets  of  the  Gods  of  Thebes  " 
and  "  Prefect  of  the  Prophets  of  all  Gods  of  the  South 
and  the  North."  This  can  mean  nothinsf  else  than 
that  all  the  priests  of  the  country  were  subordinate 
to  him  and  that  he  was  the  supreme  spiritual  author- 
ity of  the  realm.     Of  this  power  he  knew  how  to 

'  Cp.  Erman,  Li'/t-  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  293^. 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  97 


make  good  use ;  and  it  not  infrequently  happened 
that  the  offices  of  high  priest  in  other  temples,  for 
example,  that  of  the  sun-god  of  Heliopolis,  together 
with  his  special  subordinate,  members  of  the  college 
of  Amon,  were  filled  in  accordance  with  his  choice. 
In  this  manner  not  only  was  great  political  power 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  Theban  priesthood, 
but  great  material  advantages  accrued  to  it  as  well, 
since  the  rich  revenues  of  the  old  temple-lands  flowed 
into  the  chest  of  a  single  body  of  priests.  The  danger 
thus  occasioned  to  the  State  as  a  whole  will  become 
apparent  to  us  later  on. 

By  a  happy  accident  we  have  fairly  exact  in- 
formation on  the  steps  by  which  the  highest  posts 
in  the  Egyptian  hierarchy  were  attained.'  Beken- 
khons,  who  was  high  priest  of  the  Theban  Amon  in 
the  reign  of  Ramses  II.,  that  is,  in  the  thirteenth 
century  before  Christ,  tells  us  in  his  autobiography 
that  as  a  boy  he  received  a  military  education  in 
one  of  the  king's  stables  from  his  fifth  to  his  fif- 
teenth year.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  most  celebrated  of  all  Egyptian  tem- 
ples, and  here  became,  in  the  first  place,  a  simple 
priest.  At  twenty  he  had  worked  through  this  lowest 
sacerdotal  stage,  and  now  rose  to  the  next  highest 

'  Cp.  The  inscription  on  the  statue  of  Bekenkhons  in  the  Glypto- 
thek  of  Munich  ;  Erman,  /.  c,  p.  294/. 
7 


98     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


position,  that  of  a  "  father  of  the  god."  For  twelve 
years  he  performed  the  duties  of  this  office ;  then, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
ranks  of  the  "  prophets "  ;  he  was  third  prophet 
for  fifteen  years  and  second  prophet  for  twelve. 
Finally,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  life,  he  was 
chosen  by  the  royal  favour  to  be  high  priest,  to  be 
"  the  first  prophet  of  Amon  and  the  prefect  of  the 
prophets  of  all  gods."  In  this  capacity  he  then 
showed  himself  "  a  good  father  to  his  subordinates  ; 
he  educated  their  youth  ;  he  stretched  out  his  hand 
to  those  who  would  have  fallen,  and  succoured  those 
who  were  in  need." 

Not  every  one,  of  course,  followed  so  brilliant  a 
career  as  our  Bekenkhons.  Just  as  has  always 
happened  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  most  of  those 
who  devoted  themselves  to  the  priesthood,  unless 
they  possessed  eminent  gifts  or  enjoyed  influential 
protection,  must  have  spent  their  lives  in  the  lower 
ecclesiastical  positions,  and  been  content  to  lead,  in 
the  shelter  of  the  temple  walls,  a  peaceful  and  com- 
fortable existence  free  from  everyday  cares. 

In  the  earlier  period,  when  the  professional  priests 
were  still  few  in  number,  they  differed  but  little 
from  the  rest  of  mankind  in  their  outward  aspect. 
It  was  only  the  high  priests  of  the  great  national 
sanctuaries  that  wore  definite  insignia  as  tokens  of 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  99 


their  dignity.  Thus  the  high  priest  of  the  god  Ptah 
of  Memphis  wore  a  peculiar  neck-ornament.  This 
was  adorned  with  curiously  barbaric  figures  of 
animals,  and  its  archaic  style  was  enough  to  show 
that  its  origin  was  not  in  the  historical  period  but 
in  the  distant  primitive  past.  Among  the  priests  there 
were  some  individuals  who  wore  a  panther  skin  hang- 
ing over  their  shoulders  as  part  of  their  ofHcial  dress. 

When,  in  the  time  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  the 
clergy  came  to  be  held  in  higher  regard  and  the 
sacerdotal  order  increased  in  numbers  and  power,  it 
became  more  and  more  their  endeavour  to  clothe 
themselves  in  a  manner  indicating  that  they  were  a 
class  apart  from  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  At  the 
same  time  they  avoided  what  was  fashionable  in 
dress  and  remained  faithful,  like  our  modern  clergy, 
to  the  simple  costume  of  early  days.  For  the  sake 
of  cleanliness  the  priests  abstained  from  wearing 
wigs,  and  went  about  with  shorn  heads. 

In  a  later  age,  when  manners  in  general  were  re- 
garded as  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  when  it  was 
sought  to  save  the  dying  nationality  by  insistence  on 
ancestral  traditions,  these  externalities  were  observed 
by  the  priests  with  greater  strictness  than  before. 

"The  priests" — so  Herodotus  bluntly  tells  us' — "shave 
the  whole  of  their  bodies  once  in  three  days  in  order 
^  Herodotus,  ii.,  37. 


lOO    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


that  no  vermin  or  other  unseemly  creature  may  be  found 
upon  those  who  serve  the  gods  ;  the  priests  also  wear 
only  a  linen  garment  and  shoes  of  byblos  ;  other  clothes 
or  other  shoes  they  are  forbidden  to  put  on.  Twice  a  day 
they  bathe  in  cold  water  and  twice  at  night.  And  there 
are  yet  a  thousand  other  customs  to  which  they  must 
conform." 

Herodotus  adds  here  that  on  the  death  of  a  high  priest 
his  son  succeeded  him  in  his  office ;  but  while  such 
hereditary  transmission  of  office  may  have  been  fairly 
frequent,  it  was  not  the  rule.  At  no  period  of  Egyptian 
history  was  there  a  permanent  sacerdotal  caste  in  the 
sense  that  the  son  was  obliged  to  be  a  priest  like  his 
father  and  could  adopt  no  other  profession.  But  the 
possibility  was  by  no  means  excluded — and  where  in 
the  world  is  the  same  state  of  things  not  to  be 
observed  ? — that  a  father  in  the  enjoyment  of  a 
lucrative  sacerdotal  office  would  see  that  his  son  or 
sons  followed  the  same  vocation  ;  and  in  this  way 
it  may  well  have  happened  that  particular  preferments 
remained  for  generations  in  the  possession  of  a  single 
family. 

The  satisfaction  of  the  manifold  needs  of  a  god 
in  the  form  of  offerings,  gigantic  building  operations, 
the  maintenance  of  a  numerous  sacerdotal  staff — all 
this  was  naturally  impossible  without  resources  of 
considerable  magnitude.     And  in  fact,  the  Pharaohs 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  loi 


made  a  practice  from  the  earliest  times  of  endowing 
the  sanctuaries  of  their  land  with  rich  gifts,  with 
estates  and  property  of  all  kinds.  Special  occasion 
often  arose  for  making  donations  of  unusual  mag- 
nitude ;  a  vow  had  to  be  fulfilled,  or  the  deity  had 
extended  some  extraordinary  favour  to  the  king. 

The  oldest  endowment  of  the  kind  about  which  we 
know  anything  is  one  dedicated  by  the  primitive 
King  Zoser  to  the  patron  of  the  cataract-district  of 
Assuan,  the  god  Khnum.  We  have  a  long  docu- 
ment which  relates  the  occasion  of  this  endowment.' 
According  to  this,  in  the  time  of  this  Pharaoh's  reign 
the  Nile  failed  to  rise  for  a  period  of  seven  years. 
In  consequence,  the  severest  distress  prevailed 
in  the  land,  and  the  king  and  his  court  were  in  the 
greatest  anxiety.  In  these  straits  he  turned  to  the 
wise  Imhotep,  the  same  who  was  afterwards  deified 
as  the  god  of  healing,  and  questioned  him  upon  the 
"birthplace  of  the  Nile  "  and  the  god  who  bore  rule 
there.  The  sage  could  not  answer  the  king's  ques- 
tions on  the  spot ;  he  requested  leave  of  absence 
in  order  that  he  might  consult  the  sacred  books 
on  the  subject.  He  took  his  departure,  but  soon  re- 
turned to  the  king  and  revealed  to  him  "  the  hidden 

'  The  inscription  on  the  "  Seven  Years'  Famine  "  on  the  Island  of 
Sehel  ;  cp.  Sethe,  Dodekaschoinos  {Unters.  z.  Gesch.  tmd  Altertumsk. 
Aegyptens,  ii.),  p.  \<^  ff. 


I02    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


wonders,  the  way  to  which  had  been  shown  to  no 
king  for  unimaginable  ages."  He  related  that  the 
Nile  crme  to  light  in  a  city-district  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters  ;  the  name  of  it  was  Elephantine,  and  it  was 
on  the  frontier  of  lower  Nubia.  The  water  was 
named  "  The  Two  Holes,"  and  this  was  the  cradle  of 
the  Nile.  Khnum  reigned  there  as  god  ;  his  temple 
opened  towards  the  south-east.  Worship  was  there 
paid  also  to  the  goddesses  Satis  and  Anukis,  the  com- 
panions of  Khnum,  further  to  the  Nile-god  and  the 
deities  Show,  Geb,  Nut,  Osiris,  and  Horus,  as  also  to 
Isis  and  Nephthys.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  that 
island,  on  the  eastern  bank,  were  massive  mountains 
with  all  manner  of  exceedingly  hard  and  precious 
minerals,  which  were  in  request  for  all  building  of 
temples  in  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  for  the  tombs  of 
the  kings,  and  for  all  kinds  of  statues — the  allusion 
is  naturally  to  the  fine  granite  which  has  from  the 
earliest  times  been  quarried  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Syene,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Nile.  In  addition, 
both  on  the  western  and  on  the  eastern  bank,  as  also 
on  the  islands  in  the  river,  there  were  to  be  found 
all  kinds  of  precious  stones  and  minerals,  gold,  silver, 
copper,  iron,  lapis  lazuli,  malachite,  and  so  on. 

When  the  king  had  heard  this  report  of  the  wise 
Imhotep,  his  heart  was  glad  and  he  caused  a  sacri- 
fice to  be  offered  "  to  the  gods  and  the  goddesses 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  lo;; 


of   Elephantine,  whose   names    have  been    named 
above." 

In  the  night  which  followed  these  events  the  king 
had  a  dream  :  He  saw  the  god  Khnum  standing  be- 
fore him.  After  he  had  done  him  reverence,  the  god 
revealed  himself  to  him,  and  said  : 

"  I  am  Khnum,  thy  creator  and  protector.  I  give  to 
thee  the  mines  and  the  minerals  which  throughout  all 
ages  have  [never  been  discovered],  and  which  have 
never  been  worked,  for  the  building  of  temples  and  the 
repair  of  what  has  fallen  into  decay.  For  I  am  the  crea- 
tor who  has  created  himself,  the  great  primordial  ocean 
that  first  arose,  the  Nile  who  rises  at  his  pleasure,  who 
directs  every  man  in  his  work.  ...  I  have  in  my 
possession  the  two  openings  from  which  the  Nile  flows. 
I  know  the  Nile.  ...  I  will  cause  the  Nile  to  rise 
for  thee;  in  no  year  shall  it  fail.  The  plantations  shall 
bow  beneath  the  fruit,  and  men  shall  rejoice  more  than 
in  past  times." 

Upon  these  words  the  king  awoke.  Rejoicing  in 
his  heart  over  the  promises  of  the  god,  he  made  a 
decree  in  which,  out  of  gratitude  to  his  father  Khnum 
for  that  which  he  had  promised  to  do,  he  gave  to 
him  the  whole  region  on  the  eastern  and  western 
banks  in  the  cataract-district. 

Such  donations  of  land  were  probably  made  to 
the  temples  in  all  periods  ;  but  in  the  New  King- 
dom their  possessions  were  chiefly  increased  by  the 


I04    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


dedication  to  the  gods  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
booty  which  was  brought  to  the  Nile  from  distant 
lands  after  the  successful  campaigns  of  the  kings  of 
dynasties  XVIII.  and  XIX.  It  was  regarded  as  the 
tribute  due  to  the  god  by  whose  aid  the  victory  had 
been  won.  Inscriptions  are  preserved  of  Thutmosis 
III.  and  Sethos  I.  in  which  the  royal  gifts  of  these 
Pharaohs  to  the  priests  are  enumerated. 

There  is  more  especially  a  document  of  the  end 

of  the  reign   of  Ramses  III.,  that   is,  dating  from 

about  1 1 50  B.C.,  which  gives  us  an  excellent  idea  of 

the  great  riches  possessed  by  the  Egyptian  temples 

at  that  time.'     Their  property  included   no   fewer 

j  than  103, 1 75  men,  490,386  head  of  cattle,  513  gardens, 

1,074,418  acres  of  land,  88  ships,  51^  dockyards,  and 

j  169  townships,  situated  both  in  the  Nile  valley  and 

!  abroad.     The  men  who  belonged  to  the  sanctuaries 

iwere  probably  in  part  slaves  captured  in  war,  but  in 

jpart,  too,  they  were  peasant  serfs  and  artisans.    They 

'were  required  to  work  in  the  fields,  to  watch  the  herds, 

and,  last  but  not  least, — just  as  we  read  in  the  history 

of  the  children  of  Israel — they  rendered  obligatory 

service  in  the  construction  of  great  temples ;  not  a 

few  of  them  were  further  compelled  to  pay  tribute  in 

'The  "Great  Harris  Papyrus"  in  the  British  Museum.  Cp. 
Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  pp.  2qq  ff;  Erman,  "  Zur  Erklarung 
Ae%  Vdi^yms  Yi&rr\s" {Siizungsber.  der  Kgl.  Preuss.  Akademie  der 
Wissenschaften,  1903,  xxi.). 


Temples  and  Ceremonies  105 


gold,  silver,  and  various  natural  products.  If,  now,  we 
take  into  account  the  multitude  of  fields  which  were 
the  property  of  the  gods,  we  are  entitled  to  say  that 
a  relatively  large  proportion  of  the  land  was  in  pos- 
session of  the  dead  hand.  By  a  comparison  with 
modern  statistics  it  has  been  calculated  that  Amon 
of  Thebes  owned,  roughly  speaking,  one-tenth  of  the 
Egyptian  soil,  and  no  less  than  the  one-hundredth 
part  of  the  population.  Next  to  him  the  sun-god 
Re  of  Heliopolis  and  Ptah  of  Memphis  were  the 
wealthiest  gods  of  the  land.  The  clergy  thus  ac- 
quired an  economic  preponderance  in  the  state, 
which  procured  them  at  the  same  time  immense  po- 
litical power.  To  what  consequences  this  necessarily 
led,  we  learn  from  modern  examples — I  need  only 
mention  Spain.  In  the  end  the  high  priests  of 
Amon  became  the  most  influential  persons  in  the 
realm  ;  and  it  was  thus  but  a  short  step  to  take  when, 
after  the  death  of  the  last  Ramses,  one  of  them 
thrust  the  heir  aside  and  placed  the  crown  on  his 
own  head.  Although  the  monarchy  of  the  high 
priests  was  not  of  long  duration,  this  event  was  the 
culminating  point  in  the  history  of  clerical  power; 
the  Church  had  prevailed  over  the  State,  but  in  so 
doing  had  sealed  the  death  warrant  of  the  national 
glory  for  all  time. 


LECTURE  IV. 
Magic  Art. — The  Life  after  Death. 

THE  Egyptians  would  have  been  no  true 
Orientals  if  they  had  not,  like  their  Moham- 
medan and  Christian  posterity,  been  crammed  full  of 
superstition.  We  find,  accordingly,  that  witchcraft 
played  a  very  great  part  in  the  whole  of  ancient 
Egyptian  life.     Charms  were  the  remedies  employed 

-      ■       I    ■■!     I.  ■■  ■■■■■  '—        > 

against  all  manner  of  evils,  the  means  by  which 
diseases  might  be  expelled  or  the  favour  of  a  loved 
one  gained.  To  smuggle  magic  figures  into  an 
enemy's  house  was  to  procure  his  illness  or  disable- 
ment. The  charms  to  which  recourse  was  had  on 
these  occasions  were  by  preference  connected  with 
particular  episodes  in  the  mythological  history  of 
the  gods.  It  was  thought  that  the  same  means 
which  had  been  employed  by  divine  beings  with 
happy  results  would,  in  similar  cases,  work  equally 
well  on  earth  in  the  hands  or  the  mouths  of  men. 
Here  again  a  prominent  position  is  taken  by  the 
legends  of  Osiris  and  Isis  and  the  sun-god  Re. 
After  the  tragic  death  of  her  husband,  the  goddess 

io6 


Magic  Art  107 

\ 


Isis  gave  birth  to  a  son,  Horus,  in  the  swamps  of  the  6"\. 

Delta.  One  evening,  on  returning  home  from  the  O^^^^ 
fields,  she  found  the  boy  apparently  lifeless.  "  He 
had  moistened  the  earth  with  the  water  from  his  eyes 
and  the  foam  from  his  lips ;  his  body  was  stiff,  his 
heart  stood  still,  no  muscle  twitched  in  all  his  limbs." 
A  scorpion  had  stung  him.  In  her  anguish  of  heart 
the  despairing  mother  could  only  beseech  the  Sun- 
god  for  help.  The  latter  stayed  his  bark  in  the 
heavens,  and  sent  down  Thout,  the  god  of  wisdom, 
to  succour  his  child.  Thout  recalled  him  to  life  by 
magic  charms ;  and  these  same  charms,  it  was 
thought,  which  had  once  saved  the  young  Horus, 
would  heal  in  like  manner  any  mortal  who  had  been 
stung  by  a  scorpion.' 

The  greatest  magical  power,  however,  was  re- 
.served  for  those  who  knew  the  mystic  name  of  the 
almighty  pantheistic  deity,  the  sun-god  Re.  For 
long  ages  this  god  had  with  great  prudence  pre- 
served the  secret  of  his  name  from  all  save  himself, 
until  Isis,  the  "  great  magician  "  among  the  gods, 
wrested  it  from  him  by  a  stratagem,  and  thereby 
acquired  immense  power.  An  old  legend  tells  us 
how  she  did  so.'     Once   more   we   are   introduced 


'  Cp.  Zeitschr.  f.  dgypt.  Sprache,  1879  (vol.  xvii.),  p.  X  ff. 
*  Cp.  Lefebure  in  the  Zeitschr.,  1883  (vol.  xxi.),  p.  "21  ff,;  Erman, 
Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  2ts  ff. 


io8    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


to  the  aged  Re,  king  of  gods  and  men,  but  now 
weakening  with  years  and  held  in  diminished  re- 
gard. Isis,  in  particular,  no  longer  admitted  his 
sovereign  rights,  and  would  fain  have  exercised 
equal  authority  with  him  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 
To  this  end  there  was  but  one  means :  she  must 
learn  the  god's  numerous  names,  known  only  to  him- 
self, which  gave  him  power  over  the  universe.  In 
order  to  possess  herself  of  this  secret,  she  devised  a 
stratagem.  She  took  saliva,  which  his  divine  and 
aged  majesty  had  let  fall  upon  the  ground,  kneaded 
it  with  earth,  and  so  made  a  serpent.  Having  made 
it,  the  goddess  cast  it  upon  the  path  by  which  the 
god  loved  to  wander  through  his  kingdom. 

One  day,  when  Re  had  gone  out  with  his  train  of 
attendant  gods,  this  serpent  bit  him.  He  cried  aloud 
with  pain,  and  his  cry  reached  to  heaven.  His 
divine  attendants  asked  anxiously :  "  What  aileth 
thee,  what  aileth  thee?"  but  he  could  answer  them 
nothing.  His  jaws  rattled,  the  poison  seized  upon 
his  flesh.  .  .  .  When  the  great  god  had  calmed 
himself,  he  called  to  his  escort :  "  Come  to  me, 
ye  that  are  sprung  from  my  flesh,  ye  gods  that 
went  forth  from  me  !  some  painful  thing  hath  done 
me  injury ;  my  heart  feeleth  it,  but  my  eye  seeth 
it  not.  My  hand  hath  not  made  it ;  likewise  I  know 
not   whereby    it   hath   been    made.      Never   before 


Magic  Art  109 


have  I  felt  the  like  pain ;  no  sickness  is  worse  than 
this.  I  am  a  prince,  and  the  son  of  a  prince.  .  .  . 
I  am  he  that  hath  many  names,  that  hath  many 
forms.  My  form  is  seen  in  every  god.  My  name 
was  spoken  by  my  father  and  my  mother.  After 
that,  it  was  hidden  in  my  bosom  by  him  that  begat 
me,  that  no  witchcraft  might  have  power  over  me. 
Behold  now,  when  I  went  forth  to  look  upon  that 
which  I  have  created,  when  I  walked  through  the 
kingdom  which  I  have  made,  a  thing  stung  me 
which  I  know  not.  Is  it  fire,  is  it  water?  My 
heart  is  full  of  burning,  my  body  trembleth,  all  my 
limbs  shudder.  Let  there  be  brought  hither  to  me 
the  children  of  the  gods,  they  that  speak  wisdom, 
whose  mouth  is  full  of  understanding,  whose  power 
reacheth  to  the  heavens." 

Then  the  gods  came,  full  of  mourning.  Isis  came, 
too,  who  had  wrought  all  the  mischief,  she  whose 
mouth  is  filled  with  the  breath  of  life,  whose  magic 
spells  destroy  pain,  whose  words  awake  the  dead. 
She  said  :  "  What  aileth  thee,  what  aileth  thee,  divine 
father  ?  A  serpent  hath  brought  this  sickness  upon 
thee ;  a  creature  which  thou  hast  made  hath  lifted 
up  his  head  against  thee.  Yet  shall  it  fall  by  the 
might  of  magic  spells ;  I  will  bring  it  low  before  the 
sight  of  thy  splendour." 

The  god  then  tells  her  the  nature  of  his  sufferings. 


no    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Isis  answers  :  "  Name  to  me  thy  name,  divine  father ; 
for  he  shall  live  whosoever  is  called  upon  by  his 
name." 

To  this  Re  made  reply  :  "  I  am  he  that  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  that  created  the  mountains 
and  the  living  things  that  are  upon  them.  I  made 
the  waters  and  the  great  ocean  that  was  in  the  be- 
ginning. ...  I  am  he  that  made  the  heaven 
and  the  secret  of  its  horizon,  that  gave  to  the  gods 
their  souls  within  them.  When  he  openeth  his  eyes, 
all  is  light ;  when  he  closeth  them,  there  is  dark- 
ness. The  waters  of  the  Nile  rise  when  he  com- 
mandeth.  But  the  gods  know  not  his  name.  I 
make  the  hours  and  the  days  ;  I  send  the  year  and 
I  appoint  the  time  of  overflowing  ;  I  make  the  living 
fire.  I  am  the  god  Kheperi  in  the  morning,  Re  at 
noonday,  and  Atum  in  the  evening." 

Yet  the  poison  did  not  abate,  but  took  a  stronger 
hold,  and  the  great  god  was  still  sick.  Then  Isis 
said  to  Re :  "  That  is  not  thy  name  which  thou  hast 
spoken.  But  name  it  to  me,  and  the  poison  will 
abate.  For  he  shall  live  whose  name  is  spoken." 
The  poison  burnt  more  deeply  still,  and  was  fiercer 
than  flame  and  fire.  Then  said  the  Majesty  of  Re : 
"  My  will  is  that  Isis  examine  me,  and  that  my  name 
pass  from  my  bosom  to  her  bosom." 

Then  the  god  hid  himself  from  the  gods,  and  the 


Magic  Art  1 1 1 


bark  of  infinity  [that  is,  the  ship  of  the  sun]  was 
made  empty.  By  a  remarkable  process  the  name 
of  the  god  was  now  taken  from  him ;  Isis  learned 
it  and  repeated  an  incantation,  with  the  result  that 
the  poison  abated  and  Re  became  whole  again. 
Thus  Isis,  the  great  one,  the  mistress  of  the  gods, 
knows  the  mysterious,  magical  name  of  the  sun-god  ; 
and  with  the  same  words  with  which  she  once  drove 
the  poison  out  of  his  body,  any  one  else  may  now 
work  marvellous  cures  of  poisonous  snake-bites. 

The  name  of  Re  which  the  goddess  then  learned  is 
unknown  to  us.  But,  to  judge  by  what  we  know  of 
these  magic  formulae  from  Egyptian  texts,  it  is  not 
probable  that  any  very  great  wisdom  was  concealed 
in  it.  As  a  rule  the  magicians  utter  quite  meaning- 
less abracadabras,  arbitrary  combinations  of  sounds, 
only  intended  to  have  a  sufficiently  foreign  ring 
about  them,  Phoenician  or  otherwise. 

All  these  magic  arts  date  back  from  the  earli- 
est period  of  Egyptian  history.  In  the  primitive 
religious  writings  which  we  commonly  term  the 
"  Pyramid-texts,"  we  find  that  snake-charms,  for 
example,  already  occupy  a  very  considerable  space. 
In  a  later  age,  toward  the  end  of  the  New  Kingdom, 
when  religion  was  degenerating  more  and  more  into 
the  mere  rehearsal  of  a  stock  of  formulas,  magic 
gained  the  upper  hand  altogether  and  began  to  play 


112    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


the  principal  part  in  religious  life.  The  faster  the 
green  tree  of  faith  withered,  the  greater  was  the 
luxuriance  with  which  the  unwholesome  by-growths 
of  superstition  blossomed  forth. 

In  this  category  may  fairly  be  placed  the  observa- 
tion of  days,  the  tendency  to  count  particular  days  of 
the  year  as  specially  lucky  or  unlucky.  At  the  present 
time,  as  we  all  know,  Friday,  the  day  on  which 
Christ  was  nailed  to  the  cross,  is  held  by  many  to  be 
a  day  of  evil  omen,  on  which  it  is  not  wise  to  start 
on  a  long  journey  or  begin  an  important  under- 
taking. In  a  somewhat  similar  manner,  those  were 
specially  marked  days  for  the  Egyptians  on  which 
the  noteworthy  events  of  their  mythology  were 
supposed  to  have  taken  place. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  month  Mechir  the  heavens 
had  been  raised  aloft,  that  is,  the  true  creation  of 
the  world  had  then  been  accomplished ;  it  was, 
therefore,  very  naturally  regarded  as  a  lucky  day, 
and  so  was  the  27th  of  the  month  Hathor,  on  which, 
according  to  the  legend,  Horus  and  Set  had  made 
peace  with  one  another  and  divided  the  earth  be- 
tween them.  But  the  14th  of  Tybi  was  an  unlucky 
day ;  on  it  the  sisters  Isis  and  Nephthys  had  once 
chanted  the  funeral  dirge  of  their  murdered  brother 
Osiris  ;  on  this  day,  therefore,  all  music  and  song 
were  to  be  avoided. 


Magic  Art  113 


Particular  black  days  even  exercised  an  influence 
over  the  future.  The  unlucky  child  who  first  saw 
the  light  on  the  23d  of  Paope  was  destined  to  be 
the  prey  of  a  crocodile  ;  he  who  was  born  on  the  3d 
of  Choiak  was  sure  to  be  deaf,  while  if  his  nativity 
fell  on  the  20th  of  the  same  month  blindness  was  his 
lot.  But  well  for  him  whose  birthday  was  the  9th  of 
Paope  :  it  was  appointed  for  him  to  die  full  of  days.' 

All  this  is  confirmed  for  us  by  Herodotus  when  he 
writes:  "The  Egyptians  have  found  out  to  which 
god  each  month  and  each  day  belongs,  and  how  the 
destinies  of  every  individual  are  shaped  according  to 
his  birthday,  both  how  he  is  to  die,  and  what  manner 
of  man  he  is  to  be."' 

Soothsaying  and  divination  proper  do  not  seem  to 
have  enjoyed  any  great  vogue  in  Egypt.  It  is  only 
by  casual  references  that  we  learn  of  oracles  being 
received  from  divine  images,  and,  characteristically 
enough,  these  reports  date  from  the  era  of  religious 
decadence.  Thus  at  Thebes  the  image  of  Amon, 
the  great  king  of  the  gods,  was  in  the  later  period 
the  means  of  deciding  even  important  questions  of 
state.     When  the  god  had  been  carried  in  his  bark 

'  Cp,    the    calendar    of    the    Papyrus    Sallier   4   in    the   British 

Museum ;    Chabas,    Le   Calendrier   des  jours   fastes    et    nefasies ; 

Maspero,  Contes  populaires  de  V Egypte  ancienne,  p.  Ivii.^.y  Erman, 

Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  p.  351  _/. 

*  Herodotus,  ii.,  82. 
8 


114    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


by  the  priests  out  of  his  dwelHng-place,  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  the  questions  to  which  answers  were  de- 
sired were  put  to  him  by  the  high  priest,  or  else  by 
the  king,  and  the  god  made  known  his  opinion  by 
movements  of  some  kind,  perhaps,  too,  by  particular 
sounds  or  words.  The  priests,  no  doubt,  knew  how 
to  assist  the  god  in  giving  his  reply  by  means  of 
invisible  threads,  or  even  by  a  speaking-machine 
concealed  in  the  bark. 

Responses  were  delivered  in  a  similar  manner  at 
the  celebrated  Oracle  of  Zeus  Amon,  situated  in  the 
Oasis  of  Amon  in  the  Libyan  desert,  the  modern 
Sive.  As  every  one  knows,  Alexander  the  Great 
visited  this  holy  place ;  and  out  of  the  host  that 
accompanied  him  there  are  some  who  have  reported, 
as  eye-witnesses,  the  mode  in  which  the  divine  image 
was  consulted.  It  was  carried  about  by  the  priests 
in  a  golden  bark,  just  as  in  the  Egyptian  mother- 
country  :  "  the  priests,  however,  walk  without  any 
will  of  their  own  in  whatever  direction  the  god  leads 
them  by  a  sign  ;  a  multitude  of  women  and  maidens 
follow  the  procession  ;  they  sing  songs  of  praise, 
and  extol  the  god  in  verses  handed  down  from  past 
ages." '  The  response,  it  would  appear,  was  read 
from  the  steps  of  the  priests,  which  were  supposed 
to  be  guided  by  the  deity. 

'  Diodor,  17,  50. 


Life  after  Death  1 1 5 


While  magic  was  thus  of  considerable  importance 
for  the  earthly  life  of  an  ancient  Egyptian,  it  played 
an  altogether  decisive  part  in  the  world  of  the  dead. 
All  happiness  hereafter,  even  the  continued  existence 
of  a  human  being  after  death,  depended  for  the  greater 
part,  according  to  Egyptian  ideas,  on  the  knowledge 
and  application  of  a  host  of  magical  formulae. 

The  failure  of  the  Egyptians  to  think  out  religious 
problems  to  a  clear  issue,  the  confusion  of  their  en- 
tire mythology,  are  features  which  recur  in  their 
notions  of  the  life  after  death.  To  the  unsophisti- 
cated man  there  is  always  something  incomprehen- 
sible in  the  sudden  cessation  of  life.  He  cannot  and 
will  not  understand  the  view  that  a  dear  relation,  his 
father  or  his  mother,  his  beloved  wife,  or  his  friend, 
has  in  this  one  moment  of  death  been  parted  from 
him  for,ever.  A  strong  and  healthy  sense  of  life 
resists  with  all  its  force  a  theory  which  annihilates 
its  own  individuality,  which  abolishes  its  personal 
existence  beyond  recall.  \The  only  way  in  which 
man  can  rejoice  in  life  though  his  fellows  dle^round 
hinf'daily,  his  only  means  of  recohciliatioTi  with 
death,  is  the  belief  in  a  personal  survival.  It  is  thus 
that  the  Egyptians  sought,  as  other  ancient  peoples 
soughl"anH'the  moderns  seeic  to-ffay,  to  come  to 
tefms  with_the  dark  and  hidden  mystery  of  death. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  on  the  how  and  where 


ii6    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


of  this  survival  the  Egyptians  held  different  opinions 
at  different  times  and  places.  Their  ideas  on  these 
subjects  crossed  and  recrossed  each  other  like  the 
threads  of  a  tangled  skein.  In  a  single  text,  in  a 
single  prayer  or  formula,  it  is  not  rare  to  find  the 
most  opposite  notions  in  the  closest  proximity  to 
each  other. 

This  state  of  things,  however,  is  not  one  at  which 

we  ought  to  be  so  very  greatly  surprised.     Take  a 

funeral-sermon   preached    by   a  modern  clergyman, 

and  endeavour  to  gain  from  it  a  clear  conception  of 

the  Christian    position  as   regards  the  last   things. 

What  a  wealth  of  ideas,  partly,  no  doubt,  expressed 

only  in  metaphor,  you  will  have  to  work  upon ! 

^'j/i^v^       The  most  popular,  the  most  widespread,  and  at 

v  it*-'  the  same  time  certainly  the  oldest  of  the  Egyptian 

-   Ot«.    notions  respecting  the  hereafter  was  that  according  to 

F|-  ^  which  after  death  a  human  being  leads  a  second  life 

■'        Ji  A  - 

^^^     r    ,  .under  the  same  conditions  as  those  which  governed 
f  i»<j  his  first.     There  is  no  change  of  form;  the  man,  the 

woman,  the  greybeard,  the  child,  live  on  as  such. 
,The  cemetery  is  their  dwelling-place,  their  home  the 
,  tomb.  There  the  husband  rules  over  his  wife  and 
^'■^  children,  and  is  served  by  man-servants  and  maid- 
servants. The  same  joys  which  made  his  earthly 
life  happy  are  still  vouchsafed  to  him  ;  above  all,  it 
is  as  necessary  for  him  as  ever  that  he  should  both 


Life  after  Death  1 1 7 


eat  and  drink.     His  new  existence  is  as  dependenft^ibL  f 
as  the  old  upon  the   support   of   food   and   drink,  f^*"^ 
without  which  he  must  suffer  the  tortures  of  hunger  ^^j.r^ 
and  thirst,  and,  if  he  is  not  to  perish  miserably,  must  j^  C^ 
seek  nourishment  in  the  most  disgusting  filth — a  fate      ^^^^  ^ 
equivalent  to  a  second  death. 

Just  as  a  deity  needs  to  be  supported  by  offerings 
of  food  and  drink,  so  is  it  also  with  the  dead.  The 
first  duty  of  the  relatives  is,  therefore,  to  see  that 
the  deceased  lacks  nothing  ;  a  man  who  has  the 
means  endows  a  religious  foundation  for  his  own 
benefit,  and  appoints  funerary  priests  to  perform  the 
necessary  sacrifices.  That  which  cannot  be  pro- 
vided from  the  supphes  of  nature  is  procured  by 
magical  incantations  and  prayers.  .Four  deities,  the 
so-called  "Children  of  Horus,"  have  under  their  care 
the  inward  parts  of  man ;  on  them,  too,  devolves  the 
special  task  of  scaring  away  hunger  and  thirst  from 
the  dead.  Whoever  passed  by  a  grave  was  bound, 
if  he  had  any  religious  feeling,  to  give  a  thought  to 
the  welfare  of  him  who  rested  there ;  every  sepul- 
chral inscription  called  upon  him  to  recite  the  estab- 
lished formula  of  invocation  which  ensured  a  supply 
/of  provisions  for  the  dead,  and  which  ran  thus  :  "A* 
/  thousand  jugs  of  beer,  a  thousand  loaves  of  bread,  a 

/     thousand  head  of  cattle,  a  thousand  ducks,  for  the 

V^soul  of  M  or  N."  ^ 


ii8    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


In  their   own  dwelling-place  amid  the   sands  of 
the  desert,  situated,  in  the  case  of  most  cities,  to 
i   the  west,  on  the  left  bank   of  the   river,  the  dead 
!^    formed  a  community  to  themselves.     As  such,  they 
I     were  governed  by  a  special  god  of  the  dead  ;  anld^s 
a  ruIeThe"  guardian  oi  the  locahty  Was  lit  the  same 
time  the  lord  of  the  departed,  the  ruler  "  over  them 
that  are  in  the  west."     Just  as  the  destinies  of  the 
living  are  entrusted    to  him,  so  also  the  dead    are 
under  his  care,  and  he  allows  his  subjects  to  partici- 
pate in  the  offerings  which  are  laid  upon  his  table. 
At  the  same  time  there  were  many  cities  in  which 
the  dead  were  under  separate  divinities.    (Thus  at 
Memphis,  for  example,  we  find  a  god  of  the  dead 
named  Sokans^     Another  guafdiaiT  oTlhe  cemeter}^ 
i  was  Anubis,  who  manifested  himself  in  the  form  of 
,a  jackal.     Just   as  this  animal  prowls,  spectre-like, 
.I.A  *-'       round  the  graves  in  the  desert  during  the  watches 
.  c^iL  \        of  the  night,  seeming  to  keep  watch,  as  it  were,  over 
.^'(C*  ^vj^  the  resting-places  of  the  dead,  so  also  did  the  god,  it 
y^*^  c  .      was  supposed,  and  in  the  same  form.    But  at  quite 
Q^r  an  early  period  all  these  local  gods  of  the  dead  had 

A^i^     already  passed  into  the  background,  to  make  way 
\f^  for  a  single  god  who  was  henceforth  for  the  whole  of 

Egypt    the    chief    "  lord    of   the  Western   folk  " — 
-Osiris.     But  of  this  more  hereafter. 

TTH^dead  man  is  not  kept  a  close  prisoner  in  his 


> 


Life  after  Death  119 


dark  tomb.     By  day  he  is  free  to  leave  his  narrow  ^^^^     "I 
house,  his  grave,  his  coffin,  and  to  roam  at  \v.ll  oveiiiiTir 
the  earth.     There,  also,  it  is  true,  he  must   guard, v \i^^  C 
against  the  attack  of  malicious  enemies  ;  poisonous     "^k'^ 
snakes,  crocodiles,  scorpions,  lie  in  wait  for  him,  and 
he  must  be  exactly  acquainted  with  the  magic  form- 
ulae which  will  protect  him  against  these  adversaries. 

On  occasion,  too,  the  dead  man  will  interfere  with  3 
those  still  in  the  pride  of  life  ;  he  grudges  the  living | 
their  happiness,  and  seeks  to  draw  them  over  the 
border  to  himself,  that  he  may  have  new  compan-f 
ions  in  the  West.  It  is  where  sickness  reigns  that 
he  promises  himself  the  speediest  success,  and  his 
appearance  there  rouses  fear  and  terror.  The  anx- 
ious mother,  sitting  by  the  bedside  of  her  sick  child, 
sees  him  creep  into  the  house  with  averted  face,  and  . 

speaks  to  him  boldly.     She  says :  '^  ^ 

"Comestthou  to  kiss  this  child? — I  suffer  thee  not  toVt?  ^.^ 

kiss  him  ;  -VW    " 

Comest  thou  to  quiet  him  ? — I  suffer  thee  not  to  quiet  j  UC''*-^^ 

him;  p(Vy^ 

Comest  thou  to  harm  him? — I  suffer  thee  not  to  harm  .    J,-fv4, 

him.  _^^  -it 

Comest  thou  to  take  him  away  ? — I  suffer  thee  not  to     .  ^J^ 

take  him  away." 

The  mother  is  also  acquainted  with  a  preservative 
medicine  which  she  administers  to  the  child  :  herbs, 


I20    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


honey,  and  fish-bones  are  among  its  ingredients. 
All  these  things  are  horrible  to  the  dead  man^and  he 
flees  away.* 

Sometimes  it  is  the  desire  of  revenge  that  brings 
the  dead  back  among  the  living,  bent  on  afflicting 
them  with  all  manner  of  calamities,  but  more  espe- 
cially illness.  An  officer  had  lost  his  wife  ;  shortly 
afterwards,  when  he  himself  fell  ill,  he  was  told  by  a 
magician  that  this  illness  was  probably  the  work  of 
the  dear  departed.  He  then  wrote  her  a  letter  and 
deposited  it  at  her  grave.  It  is  a  pathetic  and  at  the 
same  time  a  naive  message  that  he  addresses  to  his 
dead  wife  : 

"  What  evil  have  I  ever  done  thee  that  I  am  now  in 
such  misery  ?  What  have  I  done  to  thee  that  now  thou 
layest  hands  upon  me  ?  .  .  .  From  the  time  that 
I  became  thy  husband,  up  to  this  day,  have  I  ever  done 
aught  that  I  would  have  hidden  from  thee  ?  Thou  be- 
camest  my  wife  when  I  was  still  young,  and  I  was  by  thy 
side.  Then  I  was  appointed  to  all  manner  of  offices  ; 
I  was  still  by  thy  side,  I  left  thee  not  and  brought  no 
grief  into  thy  heart.  .  .  .  And  behold,  when  I  gave 
instruction  to  the  officers  of  Pharaoh's  foot-soldiers  and 
to  them  that  fight  in  his  chariots,  I  caused  them  to  come 
nigh,  that  they  might  overthrow  each  other  before  thy 
eyes,  and  they  brought  all  manner  of  good  things  to  lay 
them    down   before   thee.      .      .      .     When    thou    didst 

'  Cp.  Erman,  Zaubersprische  fiir  Mutter  tmd  Kind,  namely, 
p.  12/. 


Life  after  Death  121 


sicken  with  the  sickness  which  thou  hast  suffered,  I  went 
to  the  chief  physician  :  he  prepared  medicines  for  thee 
and  did  all  which  thou  didst  desire  of  him.  After  that, 
when  it  was  required  of  me  that  I  should  journey  with 
Pharaoh  to  the  South,  my  thoughts  were  with  thee,  and 
I  lived  for  the  eight  months  [of  separation]  having  no 
desire  to  eat  or  to  drink.  When  I  returned  to  Memphis 
[the  woman  having  died  in  the  meantime],  I  besought 
Pharaoh  and  came  hither  to  thee  and  mourned  then 
greatly  with  my  people  before  my  house."  ' 

It  is  hardly  necessary,  I  think,  to  add  another 
touch  to  this  charming  and  characteristic  picture,  or 
to  emphasise  the  features  of  Egyptian  thought  and 
feeling  which  it  exhibits  in  so  clear  a  hght. 

Like  many  other  peoples — I  will  only  mention  the 
Greeks — the  ancient  Egyptians  believed  that  a  con- 
crete entity,  impalpable  during  life,  has  its  residence 
in  the  human  body.     This  soul — so  we  translate  the\ 
Egyptian  6ai—\s  during  life  inseparably  connected  . 

with  the  body,  but  leaves  the  corpse  at  the  moment    ^ 
of  death*  .-The  favourite  mode  of  representing  itj.  ^^^^. 


was  to  give  it  the  form  of  a  heron;  in  later  times  '  ,^    r-. 


it  appears  also  as  a  bird  with  a   human  head,   in 
which  the  lineaments  of  the  deceased  are  reproduced. 


\  \A. 


x^ 


These  human-headed  soul-birds  were  borrowed  from  j9'  '*"*'^ 

the  Egyptians  by  the  Greeks,  and  the  type  occurs  « 

— -- .  ■■■  ^  j* 

'  According  to  a  papyrus  in  Leyden  ;  cp.  Maspero,  Etudes  e'gypt. 
p.  145  ^.y  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt,  ^.  151/. 


/  c      122    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

k\'^^  Trequently  in  Greek  art,  for  example,  in  the  represen- 
^^ijr  tation  of  the  Harpies.  Now,  the  "living  soul"  of  a 
'fk  man  must  not  be  kept  at  a  distance  from  his  body 

^  after  death,  it  must  be  at  liberty,  especially  by  night, 

when  evil  spirits  haunt  the  cemeteries,  to  return  to 
the    sepulchral  chamber   and   rest   upon   the   body. 
For  this  purpose  it  is  necessary  that  the  soul  should 
be  able  to  distinguish  its  own  corpse  from  the  others 
entombed  in  the  same  place,  and  it  was  doubtless 
to  facilitate  this  task  that  so  much  labour  was  ex- 
pended in  Egypt  on  the  preservation  of  dead  bodies. 
But,  besides  the   soul,  there  were,  according   to 
Egyptian   notions,  yet  other  spiritual  entities  con- 
nected with  man.     What  exactly  was  their  relation 
to    the    soul,  we    are    unable  to    determine.      The 
most  important  of  them,  one,  too,  of  which  frequent 
'"  ^       mention  is  made  in  the  texts,  is  the  so-called  Ka. 
7  y    *''i'"^'  ^^  '^y  opinion  it  is  not,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  a 
\xc.\a         kind  of  ethereal  facsimile  or  double  of  the  man,  but 
IfiCXif       a  guardian  spirit  or  genius.     Born  with  the  man,  it 
^  ij^   ^  ^  accompanies   him   invisibly  through    life,  and  even 
after  death  its  protecting  care  does  not  cease. 

We  have  seen  that  the  dead  man  is  able  to  leave 
his  house  by  day.  But  he  can  do  more  ;  he  can 
assume  different  shapes  at  pleasure,  transform  him- 
self into  this  or  that  kind  of  creature.  Not  that  such 
a  change  is  effected  by  his  mere  wish  ;  he  must  know 


t 


Life  after  Death  123 


the  particular  magic  formula  appropriate  to  his 
choice.  By  reciting  this,  he  may  become  a  swallow, 
a  sparrow-hawk,  or  a  heron  ;  a  ram,  a  crocodile,  or 
even  a  flower. 

These  ideas  no  doubt  became  known  in  later  times 
to  the  Greek  scholars  who  made  pilgrimages,  in 
search  of  wisdom,  to  the  priestly  schools  of  Egypt ; 
and  I  think  it  not  improbable  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  transmigration  of  souls  held  by  various  philos- 
ophers, Pythagoras  and  Plato,  for  example,  owed 
something  to  their  influence.  Fundamentally,  how- 
ever, the  two  theories  are  entirely  different.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Egyptian  belief,  the  soul  or  the  deceased 
man  himself  assumes  different  forms  quite  at  his  own 
will,  much  as  in  our  fairy-tales  the  great  wizard  can 
transform  himself  into  a  lion  or  a  mouse.  But  the 
Greek  doctrine — like  the  Indian — teaches  that  these 
migrations  through  good  and  evil  beasts,  which  the 
soul  is  compelled  to  perform  after  death,  are  a  means 
of  purification,  that  it  thereby  expiates  sins  com- 
mitted on  earth  and  is  gradually  cleansed. 

In  all  this  confusion  of  ideas  there  is  one  constant 
feature,  namely,  that  the  dead  man  and  his  soul  are 
conceived  of  as  residing  on  the  earth.  But  another 
belief,  which  also  dates  back  from  primitive  times, 
transfers  this  residence  to  heaven.  Carried  away  by 
9.  poetic  fancy,  men  imagined  that  in  the  countless 


124    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

1^  Jt  stars  which  nightly  gleam  in  the  wondrous  heavens 
•  ^^'i  '^'t  *^^y  beheld  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  But  a  Pharaoh 
]  N*  ^'  who  has  passed  away  "  takes  his  seat  in  the  bark  of 

the  sun-god ;  he  journeys  among  the  stars  of  the 
heavens  and  leads  the  same  pleasant  life  as  the  Lord 
of  the  Horizon  [the  sun-god]  himself."  Later,  this 
privilege  of  the  king  was  universalised,  and  every 
man  after  death  might  accompany  the  god  of  heaven 
on  his  travels  through  the  firmament. 

It  is,  again,  quite  a  different  conception  according 
to  which  the  dead  are  received  in  heaven  among  the 
company  of  the  gods  and  lead  a  life  of  bliss  in  their 
society.  To  begin  with  there  was  the  by  no  means 
easy  task  of  the  ascent  by  which  heaven  was  reached. 
C-  The  dead  were  accordingly  conceived  of  as  soaring 
through  the  ether  as  birds,  or  even  as  grasshoppers ; 
sometimes,  too, — the  thought  is  still  more  grossly 
material — they  were  represented  as  climbing  up 
the  rungs  of  a  gigantic  ladder.  This  was  supposed 
to  stand  somewhere  in  the  West,  reaching  perpen- 
dicularly from  earth  to  heaven.  Gods  and  god- 
desses kept  watch  over  it,  day  and  night,  and  no  one 
might  set  foot  upon  it  who  did  not  know  the  ap- 
pointed magic  formula.  Not  till  this  had  been 
pronounced  might  the  dead  man  begin  to  mount ; 
but  even  then  he  was  not  out  of  danger,  and  a  false 
step  might  precipitate  him  into  the  depths,  unless 


Life  after  Death  125 


helping  gods,  likewise  summoned  by  magical  words, 
stretched  out  compassionate  hands  and  drew  him 
upwards. 

At  the  summit,  the  mighty  gates  of  heaven  opened 
before  him,  and  he  entered  into  the  kingdom  above 
the  earth.  Heaven  itself  he  found  not  unlike  the 
world  he  had  left.  Before  him  there  stretched 
out  a  long  valley,  traversed  by  a  broad  river,  and 
broken  up  by  numerous  lakes  and  canals.  Even 
now  a  long  journey  remained  to  be  performed  before 
the  dead  man  could  arrive  at  the  place  where  he 
must  dwell.  There  were  many  lakes  in  which  he  had 
to  purify  himself,  many  canals  and  river-branches  to 
be  crossed.  Since  he  possessed  no  boat  of  his  own, 
it  was  necessary  for  him  to  summon  a  ferryman  at 
each  crossing,  naturally  by  means  of  a  magic  for- 
mula, in  which  the  mystic  name  of  the  ferryman  was 
contained. 

There  were  two  principal  places  in  heaven  where 
the  dead  abode — the  "  field  of  sacrifices  "  and  the     v      4    ^'^ 
"  field  of  rushes."     Here  they  dwelt  as  "  the  trans-  ^    •  qjJ^ 
figured,"  as  "  spirits  of  light,"  and  though  they  had     fj>^^  '4 
not  become  real  gods,  they  were  looked   upon  by   AVJ^^IA- 
men    as   higher   beings,    as   a   kind    of    demi-gods.     (V^4^ 
Among  them,  the  deceased  king  retained  a  position  [iS 
of  special  eminence.     He  was  once  more  a  king,  and 
even  the  gods  bowed  down  before  him.     He  was  set 


126    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

upon  a  throne  of  state,  and  received  the  mace  and 
the  sceptre  as  the  emblems  of  his  dignity. 

On  the  "  field  of  rushes  "  the  dead  occupied  them- 
selves with  the  favourite  industry  of  Egypt,  agricul- 
ture. But  this  pursuit  rewarded  the  exertions  of 
the  beatified  husbandman  in  a  degree  very  different 
from  that  common  on  earth.  The  corn  stood  seven 
ells  high,  of  which  the  ear  alone  measured  three. 
They  prepared  the  soil,  scattered  the  seed,  reaped 
and  garnered  the  harvest ;  then  at  evening  when  their 
work  was  done  amused  themselves  with  draughts 
beneath  the  sycamores. 

Besides  these  two  conceptions,  which  place  the 

dead  on  earth  and  in  heaven  respectively,  there  is 

yet  a  third  which  contradicts  them  both  and  finds  a 

iWu.       1^°"^^  fo^  the  departed  in  the  lower  world.     Beneath 

'^     (2(  aj  the  flat  earth  lies  a  second  earth  named  Twef^Taind 

^  A  «^  H\fr''^h  ^'^^^  E-gypt  Is  tfaverscd  -fay  a  river.     On  both 

t^\       -^^^  ^^^  ^°"S  passageFan3rd~e"ep  caverns  ;  these  are 

e     ^il     tWrh^ellinwrpTaceToTthe^dead.     By  day  this  is  a 

V-         ,    regioff'pra'reanness,  desolation,  and  mourning.     But 

(N-  '  ^^  *■  ^  ^"hy  night,  when  the  sun  has  descended  in  the  west  be- 

^^         hind  the  mythical  mountain,  Manu,  his  light  shines 

upon  the  dead,  who  then  behold  the  splendour  of 

Re.     "  The  departed,  who  are  in  their  halls,  in  their 

caverns,  praise  the  sun ;  their  eyes  are  opened,  their 

heart    is    full   of    felicity   when    they    behold    the 


Life  after  Death  127 


sun ;  they  shout  for  joy  when  his  body  is  over 
them." 

In  a  later  age,  more  especially,  this  nightly  journey 
of  the  sun  through  the  underworld  was  described  in 
full  and  picturesque  detail,  with  all  manner  of  ad- 
ditional touches  derived  from  local  beliefs  on  the 
place  reserved  for  the  dead.  Through  the  midst 
of  the  underworld  flows  the  subterranean  Nile,  on 
which  the  ram-headed  sun-god  sails,  surrounded  by 
a  numerous  train  of  divine  attendants.  The  banks 
to  right  and  left  are  peopled  by  spirits,  dcsmo?ts,  and 
all  manner  of  monstrous  beings,  who  greet  the  sun- 
god  and  keep  his  enemies  at  a  distance.  Correspond- 
ing to  the  twelve  hours  of  the  night  there  are 
twelve  regions  into  which  the  underworld  is  divided 
in  the  direction  of  its  length.  These  are  separated 
from  each  other  by  twelve  massive  gates.  These  are 
guarded  by  gigantic  serpents,  while  the  approach  to 
each  entrance  is  further  defended  by  two  fire-breath- 
ing serpents  and  two  gods.  The  sun-god  is  required 
to  know  the  names  of  the  various  serpents  and 
dcumons  ;  it  is  not  until  he  has  pronounced  them  that 
the  monsters  retire,  the  gates  open,  and  the  bark 
passes  on  into  the  new  region. 

The  common  order  of  mankind  dwell  as  phantoms 
in  the  lower  world,  where  they  salute  the  sun-god, 
and  on  occasion  tow  his  boat  over  the  shallows  of 


128    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


the  river,  just  as  happens  in  the  navigation  of  the 
Egyptian  Nile.  The  deceased  king,  however,  sits 
with  the  sun-god  in  his  bark ;  indeed,  he  even  be- 
comes one  with  him.  In  this  manner  he  is  permitted 
to  share  in  the  marvellous  night-journey,  provided, 
of  course,  that  he  too  knows  the  mystic  names  of  the 
dcsmons  and  serpents.  And  in  order  to  provide  him 
with  this  knowledge,  it  was  customary,  during  the 
New  Kingdom,  to  inscribe  the  walls  of  his  grotto- 
tomb  with  an  illustrated  account  of  everything  that 
is  in  the  underworld.  Here,  too,  what  had  originally 
been  the  peculiar  privilege  of  the  Pharaoh  was  after- 
wards imitated  by  the  people  at  large;  and  the  belief 
arose  that  every  dead  man  as  such  might  share  the 
nightly  journey  of  the  sun-god,  or  perform  it  as  sun- 
god  himself,  if  he  knew  the  series  of  magic  formulae, 
and  if  an  exact  description  of  the  underworld  ac- 
companied him  to  the  grave. 

This  tangled  medley  of  simple  and  complicated, 
of  naive  and  artificially  elaborated  ideas  was  early 
influenced  and  involved  in  still  greater  confusion  by 
the  development  of  the  doctrine  touching  the  god 
Osiris.  You  will  remember  that  Osiris  was  murdered 
by  his  wicked  brother  Set;  his  son,  Horus,  however, 
avenged  his  death  by  defeating  Set,  and  succeeded 
in  restoring  him  to  life.  In  the  desperate  fight  of 
the  two  kindred  gods  Set  had  torn  out  an  eye  of 


Life  after  Death  129 


Horus ;  this  the  latter  presented  to  his  father,  and 
the  remarkable  gift  was  what  contributed  most  to  his 
resuscitation.  But,  in  addition,  Horus  Avas  obliged 
to  use  a  quantity  of  magic  formulae  and  ceremo- 
nies in  order  to  complete  his  work.  At  last  Osiris 
is  once  more  alive  ;  he  is  again  in  possession  of  all 
his  bodily  powers  ;  he  can  speak,  eat,  and  drink.  As 
king,  he  is  set  once  more  on  the  throne,  but  not  now 
to  rule  over  men  only  ;  he  is  henceforth  the  "King 
of  the  Western  folk,"  the  prince  of  the  blessed  dead. 

**  O  Osiris — "  so  runs  a  song  of  great  antiquity, — 
"  Horus  comes,  he  embraces  thee  ;  he  causes  Thout  [the 
moon-god]  to  drive  back  the  companions  of  Set  before 
thee;  he  brings  them  all  [captive]  together.  He  causes 
the  heart  of  Set  to  quake  before  thee;  for  thou  art  greater 
than  he!  .  .  .  [The  earth  god]  Geb  beholds  thy 
excellence  ;  he  sets  thee  in  thy  place,  he  [being  also  the 
father  of  Osiris]  brings  thy  two  sisters,  Isis  and  Nephthys, 
to  thy  side.  Horus  makes  the  gods  to  join  with  thee  and 
keep  thee  company  and  not  remain  far  from  thee.  He 
makes  the  gods  to  set  thee  free.  Geb  sets  his  foot  upon 
the  head  of  thine  enemy,  who  is  in  terror  of  thee.  Thy  son 
Horus  smites  Set,  he  takes  back  from  him  his  own  eye 
[that  had  been  torn  out]  and  gives  it  to  thee  that  through 
it  thou  mayest  be  mighty  before  the  spirits  [that  is,  the 
dead].     Horus  makes  thee  to  overthrow  thine  enemies. 

.  .  .  Horus  throws  Set  down,  he  casts  him  beneath 
thee  so  that  he  carries  thee  and  quakes,  as  the  earth 
quakes."  ' 

'  Pyramid-Texts,  chap.  145. 


130    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Now  the  mythical  history  of  Osiris  is  continually 
repeated  on  earth  in  the  case  of  each  Pharaoh.  He, 
too,  has  ruled  over  men  and  made  his  people  happy ; 
he,  too,  has  been  attacked  by  death,  as  Osiris  was 
by  Set.  For  him,  too,  there  arises  in  his  son  and 
successor,  the  new  king,  an  avenger,  who,  like  Horus, 
has  the  duty  of  recalling  his  father  to  life,  and  who 
can  do  it  if  he  employs  the  old  formula  and  rites 
once  used  by  Horus.  Thus^the  dead  kingjjrsirails 
over  all  his  enemies,  he  himself  becomes  Osiris,  and 
thk.,^ods^Tarse  him  upofi  the  throne  in  the  world  of 
thejdeaS.-- 

As  to  where  the  realm  of  Osiris  is  situated,  the 
Egyptians  themselves  had  no  exact  knowledge. 
Originally  it  was  assigned  to  a  definite  locality,  we 
do  not  know  with  certainty  where.  Later,  it  was 
placed  more  generally  in  the  West,  or  it  was  thought 
that  its  place  was  above  in  the  heavens,  in  the  fields 
of  the  blessed,  or  in  the  Tzvet,  the  underworld  be- 
neath the  earth. 

Even  in  the  earliest  times  the  Osiris  myth  enjoyed 
great  popularity,  and  the  belief  gradually  gained 
ground  that  not  the  king  only  but  every  other  man 
might  be  awaked  to  new  life  like  Osiris,  might  be- 
come one  with  Osiris.  The  rites  which  at  first  were_ 
performed  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  god  and  his 
earthly  successor,  the   Pharaoh,  were  soon  applied 


Life  after  Death  131 


to  every  corpse,  and  every  deceased  person  was  by 
the  agency  of  the  Osiris  formulae  made  into  an  Osiris 
—  that  is,  conducted  to  a  life  of  eternal  blessedness. 

But  it  would  be  putting  an  undeserved  slight 
upon  the  ethical  ideas  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  if 
we  were  to  suppose  that  the  destinies  of  man  after 
death  were  regarded  by  them  as  solely  dependent 
upon  the  knowledge  and  the  recitation  of  the  various 
magic  formulce.  Even  in  the  texts  of  the  earliest 
times  higher  requirements  are  made  of  the  dead ' : 
he  must  have  led  a  virtuous  life  on  earth  ;  he  must, 
after  his  death,  be  found  "  just,"  if  he  is  to  attain 
happiness  like  Osiris.  Here,  too,  there  is  an  imita- 
tion of  the  precedents  contained  in  the  legends  of 
the  gods. 

At  Heliopolis  the  strife  between  Osiris  and  Set  k 
had  once  been  decided  by  a  law-suit ;  from  this  Osiris 
emerged  as  victor,  he  was  declared  "just."  And 
like  the  god  so  also  every  man,  before  he  enters 
the  regions  of  the  West,  must  submit  himself  to  a 
divine  tribunal.  The  sessions  of  this  are  held  in  the 
"  Hall  of  Justice."  Osiris  himself  is  the  judge  ;  by 
his  side  are  forty-two  terrible  dcemons.  Their  aspect 
is  fear-inspiring:  a  human  body  is  surmounted  by 
the  head  of  a  hawk,  a  vulture,  a  lion,  a  ram,  or  some 
other  animal;  each  one  holds  a  knife  in  his  hand. 

'  Cp.  Zeiischr.  fiir  iigypt.  Sprache,  31  (1893),  p.  75/. 


132    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Equally  formidable  are  their  names :  one  is  called 
"  Devourer  of  Blood,"  another  "Eye  of  Flame," 
others  again  are  "  Bone-Breaker,"  "  Fire-Leg," 
"  Head-Turner,"  "Shadow-Eater,"  and  so  on. 

Before  each  of  these  weird  judges  the  dead  man 
must  confess  that  he  has  not  committed  a  quite 
definite  crime.  "  I  have  not  done  what  the  gods 
abominate,"  he  confesses  to  one  of  them ;  "  I  have 
not  allowed  any  one  to  be  hungry,"  "  I  have  not 
suborned  assassination,"  "  I  have  not  stolen  the  of- 
ferings of  the  gods,"  "  I  have  done  no  murder." 
Only  when  he  can  with  a  good  conscience  deny  all 
these  mortal  sins  is  he  conducted  by  the  jackal- 
headed  god  Anubis  into  the  hall  before  Osiris.  His 
heart  is  now  weighed  on  a  great  balance  against  the 
symbol  of  justice ;  and  the  god  Thout  registers  his 
freedom  from  sin.  But  close  by  there  sits  a  huge 
hippopotamus,  ready  to  devour  the  heart  found 
wanting.  It  is  not  until  this  ordeal  is  safely  past 
that  the  dead  man  is  led  before  Osiris  by  Horus, 
just  as  a  subject  is  conducted  by  a  palace  ofificial 
into  the  presence  of  a  king ;  and  now  he  is  allowed 
to  enter  into  the  realm  of  the  blessed  among  the 
attendants  of  the  great  god.' 

At  a  very  early  age  the  maxims  relating  to  the 
life  after  death  had  already  been  collected.  The  old- 
'  Book  of  the  Dead,  chap.  125. 


Life  after  Death  133 


est  of  these  works,  which  in  part  dates  from  the 
prehistoric  period,  is  contalnWdiiftheriyramzd- Texts, 
so  called  because  they  became  known  to  us  in  their 
earliest  form  in  the  pyramids  of  the  kings  belonging 
to  the  end  of  the  fifth  and  to  the  sixth  dynasties.* 
A  somewhat  later  work,  but  one  which  became  very 
popular  in  the  Middle  Kingdom,  is  the  Boo^  of  the 
Dead?  The  description  of  the  "  Journey  of  the  sun 
in  the  twelve  hours  of  the  night "  is  known  to  us 
from  the  Book  of  that  ivJiich  is  in  the  Lower  World, 
from  the  Book  of  the  Gates,  and  from  yet  other 
writings/     But  this  is  only  a  small  portion  of  the 

'  Edited  and  translated  by  G.  Maspero  :  "  Les  inscriptions  des 
pyramides  de  Seggareh  "  (in  the  Recueil  des  travaux  relatifs  h  la 
philol,  et  a  Varcheol.  egypt.  et  assyr.,  1881-1889,  and  in  a  separate 
volume,  Paris,  1894). 

'^  Lepsius,  Aelteste  Texie  des  TodienducAes  {Berlin,  1867);  Naville, 
Das  dgyptische  Totenbuch  der  18-20  Dyn.  (Berlin,  1886) ;  Lepsius, 
Das  Totenbuch  der  Aegypter  (Berlin,  1842).  Cp.  Maspero,  "  Le 
Livre  des  Morts  "  (i?tz/?/^  </,?  I'Histoire  des  Religions,  vol.  x^.,Y>^. 
266-316,  and  Etudes  de  mythologie  et  d'arck/ologie,  vol.  i.,pp.  325- 
38/.).  The  best  translation  of  the  Book  of  the  Dead  is  that  pub- 
lished by  Le  Page  Renouf  aud  Naville  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  of  Bibl.  Archeology  (also  separately  under  the  title : 
Le  Page  Renouf,  The  Egyptian  Book  of  the  Dead.  Complete 
Translation,  Commentary,  and  Notes);  cp.  also  Budge,  Book  of  the 
Dead ;  the  chapters  of  "  Coming  Forth  by  the  Day."  The  Egyptian 
text  according  to  the  Theban  recension  in  hieroglyphic.  Edited 
from  papyri,  with  translation,  vocabulary,  etc.     3  vols. 

^  Cp.  Lanzone,  Le  domicile  des  Esprits;  Fequier,  Le  livre  de  ce 
qu'il yadans  I'LLadh ;  Maspero,  "  Les  hypogees  royaux  de  Thebes  " 
{Revue  de  V LListoire  des  Religious,  vols.  xvii.  and  xviii.,and  Etudes 
de  mythologie  et  d'archdologie  /gyptiennes,  ii. ,  p.  i  ff,). 


134    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


extensive  literature  of  the  dead  possessed  by  the 
Egyptians.  To  deal  with  all  the  works  of  the  kind, 
to  explain  all  the  different  theories  represented  by 
them,  is  more  than  I  propose  to  attempt ;  it  would 
take  us  too  far,  and  I  am  afraid  that  in  the  strange 
and  intricate  maze  your  interest,  too,  would  soon 
flag. 

Everywhere  we  meet  traces  of  the  endeavour  to 
preserve  human  existence  after  death,  and  to  pro- 
vide the  most  favourable  possible  conditions  for  the 
life  of  the  soul.  We  are  not  to  infer  from  this, 
as  has  been  done,  that  the  Egyptians  depreciated 
earthly  existence,  and  during  the  whole  time  of  their 
life  did  nothing  else  except  prepare  themselves  for 
the  hereafter.  Quite  the  contrary  is  the  case.  It  is 
only  quite  exceptionally  that  we  come  across  feel- 
ings and  thoughts  in  which  the  yearning  for  death 
predominates.  Thus  it  is  an  exception  when,  in  a 
particular  instance,  olie  tired  of  life  greets  death  as 
a  friend  in  the  following  words  : 


"  Death  stands  to-day  before  me,  as  when  a  sick  man 

becomes  whole,  as  when  a  man  goes  forth  after  a 

sickness; 
Death  stands  to-day  before  me  like  the  smell  of  myrrh, 

as  when  a  man  sits  on  a  windy  day  beneath  sails; 
Death  stands  to-day  before  me  like  a  rill  of  water,  as 

when  a  man  returns  home  from  a  ship  of  war; 

He^  0^  ^^-^^  ^'^  ■^  ^'^''^'^ 


Life  after  Death  135 


Death  stands  to-day  before  me,  as  when  a  man  desires        *  ^\ 
to  see  his  house  again  after  he  has  spent  many 
years  in  captivity." ' 

Further  on  the  same  man  congratulates  him  who 
has  finished  with  life  and  attained  happiness  in 
death  : 

**  He  who  is  dead  will  become  a  living  god  and  punish 
the  sins  of  him  who  commits  them; 
He  who  is  dead  will  stand  in  the  bark  of  the  sun  and 
receive  that  which  is  most  choice  in  the  temples."  ' 

But  —  this  is  a  point  which  may  well  be  empha- 
sised once  more — these  are  isolated  instances  of  such 
emotional  pessimism.  For  the  generality  of  men, 
in  Egypt  as  in  other  places,  there  is  "  mourning 
when  they  think  of  burial,  something  which  brings 
tears  and  troubles  the  heart  of  man."  They  are 
pained  that  "  death  tears  a  man  away  from  his  house 
and  throws  him  upon  the  hills.  Never  will  he  re- 
turn again  to  behold  the  sun."  And  even  though  a 
man  has  built  himself  ever  so  costly  a  tomb  of  gran- 
ite and  limestone,  and  furnished  it  with  everything 
that  is  necessary,  "  his  sacrificial  stones  will  yet  be 
thrice  as  empty  "  as  those  of  the  homeless  person, 
"as  those  of  the  wearied  ones  who  die  upon  the  em- 
bankment and  leave  none  behind  them."  ^ 

'  Cp.  Erman,  Gesprdcheines  Lebensmiiden  mit  seiner  Seek,  p.  ^1  ff. 


136    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


There  is,  therefore,  but  one  thing  to  do :  ''  Enjoy 
Hfe,  follow  pleasure  and  forget  care."  No  mourning, 
no  sacrifices,  no  ceremonies  can  after  all  bring  back 
the  dead  into  the  pride  of  Hfe.  This  is  the  burden 
of  another  old  and  highly  popular  song  which  was 
sunof  at  the  funeral  feast  * : 


't> 


"  The  gods  [that  is  the  kings]  who  were  in  past  times 
rest  in  their  pyramids; 

The  noble  also  and  the  wise  are  buried  in  their  pyra- 
mids; 

They  that  built  houses,  their  place  is  no  longer, 

Thou  seest  what  is  become  of  them; 

No  one  comes  thence  to  tell  us  what  is  become  of  them, 

To  tell  us  how  it  fares  with  them,  to  comfort  our  heart. 

Until  ye  approach  the  place  whither  they  are  gone, 

Forget  not  to  glorify  thyself  with  joyful  heart, 

And  follow  thy  heart  as  long  as  thou  livest. 

Lay  myrrh  upon  thy  head,  clothe  thyself  in  fine  linen. 

Anointing  thyself  with  the  truly  marvellous  things  of 

god. 
Adorn  thyself,  make  thyself  as  fair  as  thou  canst, 

And  let  thy  heart  sink  not. 

Follow  thy  heart  and  thy  joy, 

As  long  as  thou  livest  upon  earth; 

Trouble  not  thy  heart  until  the  day  of  mourning  come 

upon  thee. 

Surely  whose  heart  stands  still  hears  not  your  mourning, 

*  The  "Song  of  the  house  of  the  blessed  king  Entef,  that  is 
written  before  the  Harper "  ;  cp.  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt, 
p.  386  ;  W.  Max  Miiller,  Die  Liebespoesie  der  alten  Aegypter,  p.  29  _^. 


Life  after  Death  137 


And  he  who  lies  in  the  grave  perceives  not  your  lamen- 
tation. 

Therefore 

With  joyous  countenance  keep  a  day  of  festival  and  rest 
not  in  it; 

For  no  one  takes  his  goods  with  him, 

Yea,  no  one  returns  that  is  gone  hence." 

You  see  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  magic,  all  the 
witchcraft,  all  the  imagination  which  was  expended 
in  the  interests  of  the  life  after  death,  the  naive,  in- 
tense joy  in  life  was  not  stifled  even  among  the 
Egyptians.  ,  With  whatever  care  they  _  may  have 
elaborated  their  preparations  for  a  future  existence, 
they  yet  never  lost  the  wholesome  feeling  that  of 
all  good  things  life  is  the  best. 


LECTURE  V. 

Graves  and  Burials. — The  Egyptian  Religion 
Outside  Egypt. 

IN  my  last  lecture  I  briefly  sketched  to  you  the 
ideas  entertained  by  the  Egyptians  on  the 
Last  Things,  their  conceptions  of  the  life  after  death. 
These  conceptions,  we  have  now  to  observe,  exercised 
a  most  far-reaching  influence  on  the  whole  body 
of  Egyptian  funeral  customs.  Among  their  conse- 
quences we  may  reckon  those  solidly  constructed 
tombs  which  are  still  admired  to-day,  the  practice 
of  carefully  embalming  corpses,  and  the  host  of  gifts 
by  which  the  dead  were  accompanied  to  their  last 
home.  Here,  again,  we  have  to  deal  with  a  wide 
circle  of  usages,  within  which,  from  century  to  cent- 
ury and  from  district  to  district,  considerable  devia- 
tion was  bound  to  occur.  In  the  Old  Kingdom 
funerals  were  conducted  otherwise  than  in  the  time 
of  Alexander  the  Great ;  they  were  not  the  same  in 
the  Delta  as  in  the  cataract  region  of  Assuan  (Syene), 
far  to  the  south.  I  propose,  now,  to  draw  your  atten- 
tion to  a  few  points  in  this  most  interesting  depart- 

13S 


Graves  and  Burials  139 


ment  of  Egyptology,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  manner 
in  which  religious  notions  concerning  the  hereafter 
of  man  have  found  practical  expression. 

The  first  object  aimed  at  was  the  safe  custody  of 
the  corpse  in  its  grave,  the  provision  of  a  true  rest- 
ing-place for  the  dead.  Next  to  thieves  and  robbers, 
whose  favourite  and  most  profitable  hunting-ground 
was  at  all  times  the  cemetery,  the  water  of  the  inun- 
dations was  the  deadliest  enemy  of  the  graves.  The 
consequence  was  that  it  became  a  matter  of  primary 
importance  that  the  dead  should  be  interred,  not  in 
moist  land,  but  in  higher  ground,  situated  above  the 
range  of  the  highest  Nile,  in  the  sandy  or  rocky  soil 
of  the  desert.  An  opinion  frequently  expressed  is 
that  the  Egyptians  buried  their  dead  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Nile  because  that  was  the  region  of  the 
setting  sun.  This,  however,  is  an  error.  It  is  true 
that  at  Memphis,  at  Abydos,  at  Thebes,  at  Syene,  the 
great  necropolis  was  situated  in  the  "  Amentet,"  or 
region  of  the  West ;  at  other  cities,  however, — I  will 
mention  Tell-el-Amarna  and  Akhmim,  the  ancient 
Khemmis — it  was  to  be  found  on  the  eastern  bank,  to 
the  east  of  the  city  of  the  living.  It  is  obvious  that 
it  depended  entirely  on  local  conditions,  where  the 
most  convenient  and  the  safest  resting-place  was  to 
be  found  for  the  departed.  And  if  in  Egyptian  texts 
the  "  West "  is  often  synonymous  with  necropolis. 


140    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


and  the  dead  are  spoken  of  shortly  as  the  "  Western 
folk,"  these  expressions  must  have  been  originally 
coined  in  some  city,  probably  Abydos,  at  which  the 
community  of  the  dead  happened  to  be  situated  in 
that  particular  quarter. 

The  most  ancient  graves  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge  were  simple  rectangular  trenches.  The 
corpse  was  placed  inside,  the  cavity  filled  up  with 
sand,  and  overall,  as  in  the  Arabian  graves  of  to-day, 
a  small  mound  of  sand  and  stones  piled  up.  For  the 
king,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  so  simple  and  homely 
a  tomb  was  inadequate.  As  during  his  lifetime  he 
had  towered  above  the  mass  of  his  subjects  like  a 
giant  among  dwarfs,  so  his  grave  was  expected  to  be 
larger  and  loftier  than  those  tenanted  by  his  people. 
He  therefore  began,  while  still  among  the  living,  to 
prepare  for  himself  a  tomb  of  imposing  appearance.' 
A  large  rectangular  building  was  constructed  of 
bricks;  in  its  interior  were  several  chambers,  inac- 
cessible from  outside,  one  of  which  was  destined  to 
receive  the  Pharaoh's  corpse,  while  the  others  were 
reserved  for  various  offerings  buried  with  him.  On 
the  outside  the  building  was  adorned  with  niches 
in  the  form  of  doors,  through  which,  it  was  supposed, 

'  E.  g.,  the  tomb  of  the  first  historical  king  Menes,  which  is 
situated  near  the  modern  town  of  Nakada  ;  cp.  Zeitschrift  fiir 
agypt,  Sprache,  36  (189S),  p.  87  _^. 


Graves  and  Burials  141 


the  dead  monarch  would  be  able  to  leave  his  tomb 
at  pleasure  and  return  to  it  again.  In  addition, 
these  niches  afforded  a  convenient  receptacle  to 
which,  within  a  court  enclosed  by  a  wall,  the  neces- 
sary offerings  to  the  dead  might  be  brought.  Fur- 
ther, there  was  placed  in  the  tomb  a  large  but  simple 
memorial  stone,  on  which,  inscribed  in  majestic  hier- 
oglyphics, was  the  name  of  the  dead  king,  without 
any  addition.  The  tomb  further  contained  several 
small  gravestones  of  women,  dwarfs,  and  even  of 
does.  These  had  been  buried  at  the  same  time  as 
the  monarch  ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  assume  that 
they  had  been  his  favourites  during  life  and  were 
slaughtered  at  his  funeral  that  they  might  not  be 
parted  from  him  by  death,  but  might  continue  to 
delight  his  heart  in  the  hereafter.  Later,  when  man- 
ners grew  milder,  these  human  sacrifices  were  omit- 
ted from  the  funeral  ceremony ;  instead  of  devoting 
to  the  dead  king  the  veritable  companions  of  his 
life,  the  mere  images  or  pictures  of  them  were  placed 
in  his  tomb. 

Out  of  the  simple  tomb  of  bricks,  such  as  I  have 
just  described,  there  was  gradually  developed  the 
pyramidal  form  of  tomb — a  form  which  remained 
characteristic  of  royal  sepulchres  in  Egypt  for  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  which  even  to-day  (you  need  merely 
look   at  an   Egyptian    postage-stamp)  may   still  be 


142    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


considered  the  sign  and  token  of  the  Nile  valley. 
Even  where,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Pyramid  of 
Cheops,  it  attains  a  height  of  480  odd  feet,  and  ap- 
proaches in  altitude  the  loftiest  products  of  human 
labour,  it  is  nothing  but  an  enormously  magnified 
and  architecturally  elaborated  funeral  mound,  raised 
over  the  king's  tomb.  The  latter  commonly  con- 
sists of  one  or  more  subterranean  chambers;  less 
frequently  it  is  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  pyramid 
itself,  and  access  to  it  is  only  possible  by  means  of 
a  narrow  passage,  something  like  a  gallery  in  a  mine, 
which  was  carefully  blocked  up  after  the  funeral. 
The  inner  rooms  of  the  pyramid,  one  of  which  con- 
tained the  cofifin,  were  originally  quite  unadorned. 
It  was  not  till  the  end  of  the  Fifth  Dynasty,  that  is 
about  2540  B.C.,  that  the  practice  was  begun  of  in- 
scribing them  with  texts  relating  to  the  future  hfeand 
forming  a  kind  of  vade-mecum  for  the  dead  monarch. 
These  are  the  so-called  Pyramid-  Texts,  of  which  I 
have  already  spoken  in  my  last  lecture,  and  which  are 
the  most  important  sources  for  our  knowledge  of  the 
earliest  Egyptian  religion.  The  pyramid,  however, 
lacked  one  thing  which  the  most  ancient  royal  tombs 
had  possessed,  namely,  a  place  where  offerings  might 
be  brought  to  the  Manes  of  the  dead.  For  this  pur- 
pose, accordingly,  a  special  temple  was  erected  before 
the  eastern  side  of  the  pyramid,  a  sanctuary  dedicated 


Graves  and  Burials  143 


to  the  deceased  king.  It  was  adorned,  like  the 
temples  of  the  gods,  with  rehefs  and  inscriptions; 
and  the  statues  of  the  Pharaoh  seem  to  have  been 
set  up  in  rooms  specially  prepared  for  them. 

At  the  time  when  the  Pharaohs  began  to  build 
great  pyramids  for  themselves,  the  great  men  of 
the  realm  also  ceased  to  be  content  with  their 
simple  tombs,  and  caused  more  solid  resting  places 
to  be  constructed  for  their  remains.  They,  too,  took 
for  their  model  the  simple,  primitive  tomb  sur- 
rounded by  its  cairn.  Beneath  the  surface  of  the 
earth  a  chamber  is  hollowed  out  in  the  rock  for  the 
coffin  ;  the  approach  is  by  a  perpendicular  shaft,  not 
infrequently  reaching  to  a  depth  of  close  on  fifty  feet. 
Above  this  a  rectangular  building  with  scarped  walls 
is  constructed  of  stone  or  of  sun-dried  bricks.  These 
peculiar  tombs  have  been  designated  by  the  Arabic 
word — Mastaba  which  means  "  bench,"  because  their 
form  recalls  that  of  the  stone  benches  placed  in 
front  of  Arabian  houses. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Mastaba  a  shallow  niche 
is  to  be  observed,  the  false  door  through  which  the 
dead  man  is  supposed  to  go  out  and  in.  Here  again 
was  the  place  where  offerings  to  the  departed  were 
laid  upon  a  low  table  of  limestone,  and  where  prayers 
for  his  welfare  were  recited.  Not  infrequently  this 
niche   was  deepened    into  a  small  chamber,  in  the 


144    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


back  wall  of  which  the  false  door  was  placed,  or,  at 
a  later  period,  a  whole  series  of  such  chambers  was 
constructed  in  the  interior  of  the  Mastaba. 

The  walls  of  these  chambers  were,  whenever  pos- 
sible, covered  with  pictures  and  inscriptions.  As  a 
rule  they  relate  to  the  tomb,  and  the  offerings  to  the 
dead ;  sometimes,  however,  they  included  repre- 
sentations of  all  that  the  dead  man  had  loved  and 
cherished  on  earth,  the  occupations  in  which  he  had 
taken  particular  pleasure  while  yet  among  the  living. 
It  was  imagined,  no  doubt,  that  the  things  thus  re- 
produced pictorially,  as  by  a  charm,  really  continued 
to  exist,  and  that  the  dead  man  was  able  to  enjoy 
and  make  use  of  everything  that  was  portrayed  on 
the  walls  of  his  chamber.  We  see  there  how  he  sits 
at  table,  often  accompanied  by  his  family ;  food 
and  drink  are  heaped  up  before  him,  so  that  he 
need  but  stretch  out  his  hand  to  them.  There 
are,  further,  long  lists  of  all  necessary  means  of 
life  which  it  is  desired  that  he  should  have  at 
command  :  loaves  and  cakes,  wine  and  beer,  roast 
meat  and  vegetables,  fruits,  and  everything  else 
which  the  appetite  of  an  ancient  Egyptian  could 
demand.  In  other  pictures  peasants  and  peasant 
women  are  represented  as  bringing  all  kinds  of  food 
to  the  dead  man's  grave ;  or  he  is  depicted  watch- 
ing the  chase  in  the  desert,  or  inspecting  the  flocks 


Graves  and  Burials  145 


which  must  be  supplied  by  particular  villages  for 
sacrifice  to  the  dead.  In  many  pictures  we  witness 
the  sacrifices  themselves ;  we  see  how  the  cattle  are 
felled  and  slaughtered,  how  the  butchers  cut  up  the 
animals,  uttering  cries  which  are  written  down  on 
the  wall,  and  how  the  attendants  carry  the  best  parts, 
the  legs,  to  the  grave.  A  piece  of  ancient  Egyptian 
hfe  is  thus  enacted  before  our  eyes  in  these  vivid 
delineations,  so  that  even  after  all  these  thousands 
of  years  any  one  who  can  sympathise  with  the  actors 
and  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  scene  derives  the 
keenest  pleasure  from  it. 

In  addition  to  these  chambers,  which  the  family 
of  the  deceased  were  permitted  to  enter,  most  of 
the  Mastabas  built  in  the  grander  style  contained 
also  a  small,  inaccessible  room,  which  again  is  now 
generally  known  by  its  Arabic  name  Serddb,  that 
is,  cellar.  In  it  was  set  up  the  statue  of  the 
deceased,  often  accompanied  by  his  wife  or  child- 
ren ;  it  was  the  private  apartment  set  aside  for  the 
use  of  the  dead  man  in  his  "eternal  house."  The 
Serdab  was  separated  from  the  chamber  only  by  a 
wall ;  often,  indeed,  the  two  were  even  connected  by 
a  small  hole,  so  that  the  deceased  might  partake  of 
the  offerings  deposited  before  the  false  door,  hear 
the  prayers  recited  there,  and  inhale  the  sweet 
perfume  of  the  incense. 


146    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


Besides  the  pyramids  and  Mastabas,  which  in  a 
later  age,  by  a  process  which  we  have  already  noted 
more  than  once,  were  imitated  by  extensive  classes 
in  the  population,  there  arose,  towards  the  end  of  the 
Old  Kingdom,  somewhere  about  2200  B.C.,  another 
form  of  tomb,  the  HypogcBuvi  ^  or  rock-tomb.  No 
doubt  at  a  still  earlier  period,  during  the  Old  King- 
dom, tombs  had  been  constructed  in  the  mountain 
sides  ;  now,  however,  a  special  form  was  given  them, 
for  which,  just  as  for  the  sanctuaries  of  the  gods,  the 
ordinary  human  dwelling  house  served  as  a  model. 
An  open  court  stood  beneath  the  sky,  having  behind 
it  a  vestibule  carved  out  of  the  rock,  the  roof  of  which 
was  supported  by  columns  or  pillars.  Next  came  a 
large  hall,  also  hollowed  out  of  the  mountain  side,  and 
also  having  its  roof  supported  by  columns.  Behind 
this,  finally,  was  a  small  apartment,  containing  the 
statue  of  the  deceased.  Those  of  you  who  remember 
the  plan  of  the  typical  Egyptian  temple  will  be  at  once 
struck  with  the  exact  agreement  in  design  between 
the  "house  of  the  god "  and  the  "house  of  the 
dead."  The  coffin  containing  the  mummy  of  the 
deceased  was  placed  in  a  chamber  at  a  low  level, 
reached  from  the  Hall  of  Columns  by  a  shaft. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  New  Kingdom,  about 
1500  B.C.,  a  great  innovation  was  introduced  in  the 
form  of  the  royal  tomb.      Hitherto,  the  primitive 


Graves  and  Burials  147 


custom  had  been  retained,  by  which  a  detached  mau- 
soleum in  pyramidal  form  was  erected  to  the  Pharaoh 
in  the  midst  of  the  necropolis.  Now,  however,  a 
lodging  was  provided  for  the  royal  mummy  by  con- 
structing in  the  mountainside  a  set  of  chambers 
approached  by  a  long  corridor.  The  rock  itself  here 
served  as  a  colossal  funeral  mound,  towering  above 
the  Pharaoh's  resting  place.  The  sovereign  was  no 
longer  interred,  as  formerly,  in  the  midst  of  the 
graves  of  his  subjects,  but  at  a  distance,  in  a  lonely 
valley  of  the  Libyan  mountain-chain,  enclosed  by  the 
naked  rocks.  This  valley  was  so  narrow  that  there 
was  no  space  in  front  of  the  tomb  for  a  temple  to  the 
dead ;  this,  therefore,  was  separated  from  the  grave 
proper  and  a  special  sanctuary  built  in  the  plain  in 
its  stead.  These  rock-tombs  of  the  Pharaohs  and 
the  temples  connected  with  them,  which  were  some- 
times of  great  magnificence,  have  been  preserved 
up  to  the  present  day  on  the  western  bank  of  the 
Nile  near  Thebes,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Empire.' 
The  memorial  temples  of  the  kings  were  probably 
equipped  very  much  like  the  contemporary  sanctu- 
aries of  the  gods.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sacri- 
ficial chambers  of  private  tombs  were  probably  not 
supplied  with  any  very  great  variety  of  equipment: 

*  In  the  so-called  Valley  of  the  Kings  (Arabic  Btbdn  el-MuMk)  ; 
cp.  Baedeker's  E^ypl  {^\\\  edition),  p.  2bi  ff. 


148    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


one  or  two  stone  tables  on  which  the  food  des- 
tined for  the  dead  was  laid,  a  few  troughs  or  high 
stands  with  bowls  of  granite  to  receive  the  drink- 
offerings,  occasionally  a  few  small  obelisks  of  stone, 
which  were  erected  in  front  of  the  false  door  much 
as  the  great  obelisks  stood  before  the  gates  of  the 
temples — that  was  nearly  all  the  movable  furniture 
to  be  found  in  these  chapels.  The  grave  proper,  the 
subterranean  chamber  in  which  the  dead  slept,  was 
much  more  richly  furnished.  The  mummy  was  here 
laid  amidst  a  crowd  of  objects  intended  to  alleviate 
the  lot  of  the  deceased  and  to  provide  him  with  a 
happy  life  in  the  hereafter. 

In  the  earliest  period  the  corpse  was  interred  in  a 
kind  ofcrouching  attitude,  the  legs  drawn  up,  the  hands 
laid  in  front  of  the  face.  As  a  rule  the  head  was 
turned  to  the  north,  the  face  towards  the  east  to  see 
the  rising  sun.  The  body  was  sometimes  wrapped 
in  a  linen  cloth  or  laid  in  a  simple  wooden  chest ; 
usually,  however,  it  was  placed  in  the  grave  entirely 
without  covering.  The  offerings  by  which  it  was 
accompanied  were  chiefly  destined  for  its  nourish- 
ment ;  they  consisted  of  beer-jugs  and  other  vessels 
which  to-day  contain  ashes,  probably  the  remains  of 
food  that  was  burnt.  Besides  this  there  were  ves- 
sels of  stone  containing  all  kinds  of  ointments,  thin 
plates  in  curious  shapes  on  which  the  dead  man  was 


Graves  and  Burials  149 


to  rub  the  rouge  required  for  his  toilet  after  death 
as  in  life.  Arms,  too,  of  all  kinds  were  provided  for 
his  defence  against  his  enemies,  as  well  as  amulets 
for  his  protection  against  evil  spirits. 

In  the  Old  Kingdom,  in  the  age  of  the  pyramids, 
a  new  mode  of  burial  came  into  fashion.  The  dead 
man  no  longer  crouched  in  the  tomb,  but  was  placed 
in  the  grave  lying  upon  one  side  as  if  asleep.  A  pil- 
low was  even  placed  under  his  head.  The  corpse 
itself  was  carefully  embalmed,  converted  by  a  great 
variety  of  processes  into  a  mummy,  and  thus  pro- 
tected from  decomposition.  The  internal  organs  of 
the  body  were  removed  and  buried  in  special  jars. 
These  visceral  vases,  which  are  commonly  spoken 
of  as  "canopic,"  were  under  the  protection  of  four 
genii,  children  of  the  god  Horus,  whose  part  was  to 
guard  them,  and  therefore  also  the  man,  from  hunger 
and  thirst.  Accordingly  they  generally  had  for  lids 
the  heads  of  these  divinities  :  the  head  of  a  man,  of 
an  ape,  of  a  jackal,  and  of  a  hawk. 

The  body  itself  was  laid  in  salt  water  and  treated 
with  bitumen ;  it  was  then  rolled  in  bandages  and 
cloths,  while  the  abdominal  cavity  was  also  plugged 
up  with  linen  rolls  and  cushions.  The  mode  of  em- 
balming, moreover,  differed  at  different  times.  Her- 
odotus '  tells  us  that  in  his  day  there  were  no  fewer 
'  Herodotus,  ii.,  86-88. 


150    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


than  three  processes,  more  or  less  complicated  ac- 
cording to  their  costliness.  In  the  most  expensive  of 
these  the  corpse  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  specially 
trained  embalmers,  who  first  of  all  drew  out  the  brain 
by  an  iron  hook  passed  through  the  nostrils,  destroy- 
ing by  caustic  drugs  what  could  not  be  removed  in 
this  manner.  An  incision  was  next  made  with  a  sharp 
flint  knife  in  the  soft  parts,  and  the  viscera  taken 
out.  These  were  cleaned,  palm  wine  was  poured, 
and  all  manner  of  spices  were  strewn  over  them. 
The  abdomen  was  filled  with  myrrh  and  other  aro- 
matic substances  and  then  sewed  up  again.  The 
body  was  now  left  to  lie  for  seventy  days  in  a 
solution  of  natrum,  that  is,  actually  pickled.  After 
the  lapse  of  this  time  the  corpse  was  once  more 
washed,  rolled  in  linen,  and  smeared  over  with  gum. 
In  this  manner  a  first-class  mummy  was  produced. 
You  will  now,  I  imagine,  have  heard  enough  of  the 
methods  of  this  branch  of  industry,  and  will  be 
ready  to  excuse  me  from  describing  to  you,  again 
in  the  words  of  Herodotus,  the  two  cheaper  modes 
of  embalming. 

The  mummy  was  generally  laid  in  a  rectangular 
chest  of  wood  or  stone.  The  surface  of  this  was 
polished ;  frequently,  however,  it  was  decorated  on 
the  outside,  like  a  royal  tomb  of  the  oldest  period, 
with  a  number  of  doors  intended  to  afford  exit  and 


Graves  and  Burials  151 


entrance  to  the  dead  man.  At  the  head-end,  where 
the  face  lay,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  insert  a  pair  of 
eyes ;  by  the  aid  of  these  the  deceased  was  expected 
to  look  forth  from  the  coffin  and  behold  the  rising 
sun.  The  inner  surfaces  were  at  a  later  time  in- 
scribed with  texts  relating  to  the  life  after  death, — 
chapters  from  the  Pyramid-Texts  and  from  the 
Book  of  the  Dead ;  in  addition  there  were  pic- 
torial representations  of  all  possible  things  which 
the  dead  man  could  need  in  the  hereafter.  Under 
this  category  there  naturally  came  food  and  drink  in 
great  quantities,  but  at  the  same  time  ornaments, 
weapons,  articles  of  clothing,  objects  relating  to  the 
toilet,  sandals,  and  so  on,  were  not  forgotten.'  At  a 
later  time  the  coffins  often  received  the  form  of 
mummies  with  uncovered  face ;  they  were  decorated 
by  imitation  bandages,  in  the  spaces  between  which 
were  inscriptions  and  pictures  of  the  gods,  all  de- 
stined to  procure  the  welfare  of  the  deceased. 

From  the  time  of  the  Old  Kingdom  the  number 
of  funeral  offerings  continually  increased.  How  numer- 
ous they  were  is  best  shown  by  a  discovery  belonging 
to  the  time  of  2100  B.C.,  which  was  made  two  years 
ago  in  a  priest's  grave  in  the  Memphian  necropolis.^ 

'  Cp.  Steindorff,  Grabfunde  des  Mittleren  Reichs  in  den  Konig- 
lichen  Museen  ?ai  Berlin. 

^  Near  the  pyramid  of  the  king  Ne-woser-re  at  Abusir. 


152     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 

The  objects  are  now  preserved  in  the  museum  of 
Leipzig  University.  In  order  to  provide  for  the 
nourishment  of  the  dead  man  there  had  been  placed 
in  his  grave  first  of  all  a  little  wooden  granary, 
which  looks  hke  part  of  a  marionette  show,  but 
which  follows  the  pattern  of  an  actual  granary  down 
to  the  smallest  details.  In  a  walled-in  yard  entered 
by  a  gate  there  stand  the  silo-like  grain  chambers ; 
the  corn  is  being  measured  in  the  court,  servants 
carry  the  grain  in  sacks  up  to  the  roof  and  discharge 
it  through  little  windows  into  the  store  chambers, 
while  a  scribe  squats  close  by  and  registers  the 
number  of  the  sacks  delivered.  It  is  thus  that  the 
deceased  is  provided  with  the  raw  material  for  his 
maintenance  ;  for  the  preparation  of  his  food  there 
is  a  model  of  a  kitchen  yard,  in  which  animals  may 
be  slaughtered  and  roasted,  bread  baked,  and  beer 
brewed.  Four  small  ships,  two  propelled  by  oars 
and  two  by  sails,  manned  by  miniature  sailors,  are 
at  his  disposal  to  convey  him  over  the  waters  of  the 
heavens  and  bring  him  to  the  Fields  of  the  Blessed. 
There  are  other  departments,  too,  in  which  imita- 
tions supply  the  place  of  the  sometimes  costly  real 
articles:  little  copper  tools,  a  wooden  quiver  with 
arrows,  a  wooden  pillow,  and  a  pair  of  wooden 
sandals.  The  handsomely  painted  wooden  figures 
of  a  man  and  a  woman  carrying  food  to  the  dead 


Graves  and  Burials  153 


man, — a  goose  among  other  things, — are  intended  to 
wait  on  him  as  his  servants.  Weapons  and  sticks, 
earthen  dishes  and  jugs,  again  as  a  matter  of  course 
filled  with  eatables  and  drinkables,  complete  this  in- 
teresting tomb  equipment.' 

But  the  objects  I  have  described  by  no  means  ex- 
haust the  imaginative  providence  of  the  Egyptians. 
Often  little  hippopotami  were  placed  in  the  grave 
with  the  dead  in  order  that  he  might  follow  his 
favourite  occupation  in  the  hereafter  by  hunting 
these  pachydermata."  Instruments  of  music  and 
sets  for  the  game  of  draughts  were  provided  for 
his  entertainment ;  highly  ornamented  fans  were 
to  afford  him  coolness.  Figures  of  women,  too, 
were  added  that  he  might  have  the  pleasure  of 
their  company,  but,  remarkably  enough,  these  have 
no  feet,  doubtless  in  order  to  guard  against  the  pos- 
sibility of  their  running  away  from  the  grave.  In- 
deed, the  dead  man  was  sometimes  provided  with  a 
duplicate  head,  in  case  his  own,  as  was  to  be  feared, 
should  be  taken  from  him  in  the  hereafter  by  evil 
spirits. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  New  Kingdom  amulets 
and  magic  figures  play  a  special  part  in  insuring  the 

'  Cp.    also   Steindorff,    Grabfunde   des   Mittleren   Reichs  in  den 
Koniglichen  Museen  zu  Berlin. 

*  Cp.  G.  Maspero,  Gtiide  to  the  Cairo  Museum  (Cairo,  1903).  p.  373. 


154     The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


welfare  of  the  deceased.  Since  agricultural  labour  in 
the  "  Fields  of  the  Rushes"  often  seemed  too  hard  for 
the  dead  man,  it  was  sought  to  help  him  by  placing 
little  figures  in  the  grave  with  him.  These  were  in- 
tended to  assist  him  in  the  field,  and  for  this 
purpose  they  carried  the  necessary  implements. 
The  name  of  the  dead  man  was  written  upon  them, 
or  else  a  whole  magic  formula  which  at  the  right 
moment  was  expected  to  call  them  to  life  and  set 
them  doing  their  work. 

You  will  remember  that  according  to  a  later 
doctrine  the  heart  of  the  dead  man  was  required 
to  be  weighed  before  Osiris.  Since,  however,  the 
actual  heart  had  been  removed  from  the  body  in 
the  process  of  embalming,  it  was  replaced  by  a 
heart  of  stone,  generally  in  the  form  of  a  scarab, 
which  was  laid  beneath  the  mummy  bandages, 
and  which  was  conjured  by  a  magic  formula  to 
speak  for  the  dead  man  in  the  lower  world.  "O 
heart," — so  it  ran, — "heart  that  I  have  from  my 
mother,  O  heart  that  dost  belong  to  my  being, 
appear  not  as  a  witness  against  me  [in  the  judgment 
hall  before  Osiris]  ;  be  not  my  adversary  before  the 
judges,  contradict  me  not  before  the  ofificer  of  the 
balance.  Thou  art  my  spirit  that  is  within  my 
body,  suffer  not  our  name  to  stink  .  .  .  tell 
no  lie  against  me  before  the  god." 


Graves  and  Burials  155 


Another  amulet,  made  in  the  form  of  the  sacred 
stake  worshipped  as  a  fetish  in  the  Dclta-city 
Busiris,  was  destined  to  prevent  the  dead  man  being 
turned  back  at  the  gate  of  the  West ;  "  let  bread  be 
given  to  him,  with  beer  and  cakes  and  much  meat, 
upon  the  table  of  Osiris;  for  he  is  justified  against 
his  enemies  in  the  realm  of  the  dead,  excellently 
well  and  over  and  over  again." 

Lastly,  we  should  mention  an  amulet  of  frequent 
occurrence  which  had  the  form  of  a  knot  and  was 
made,  by  preference,  of  red  jasper.  It  was  regarded 
as  the  emblem  of  the  goddess  Isis,  and  the  supposed 
consequence  of  its  being  worn  on  the  neck  was  that 
"  Isis  protects  the  wearer,  and  Horus  rejoices  when  he 
sees  it."  According  to  another  account,  it  also  ful- 
filled a  second  purpose,  similar  to  that  served  by 
the  stake  which  I  have  just  mentioned  ;  through  its 
agency,  *'  the  dead  man  follows  Osiris  in  the  realm 
of  the  dead,  the  gates  of  the  underworld  are  open  to 
him,  barley  and  spelt  are  given  to  him  on  the  *  Field 
of  Rushes '  [in  heaven]  and  he  is  like  the  gods  who 
abide  there." 

But  enough  of  amulets,  with  which  the  mummy 
was  sometimes  covered  in  the  later  period  to  the 
number  of  hundreds,  as  if  with  a  suit  of  defensive 
armour. 

It    need    hardly   be   said   that    a    people    which 


156    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


expended  so  much  labour  on  the  construction  and 
furnishing  of  a  tomb  as  the  Egyptians  did  must  have 
solemnised  the  day  of  burial,  on  which  the  departed 
entered  into  his  last  *'  eternal  dwelhng-place,"  with 
quite  special  ceremonies,  even  if  we  had  not  pictures 
from  all  periods  of  Egyptian  history  by  which  these 
elaborate  funeral  rites  are  brought  visibly  before  our 
eyes. 

In  cities,  such  as  Thebes,  where  the  necropolis 
was  not  on  the  same  bank  of  the  river  as  the  city 
of  the  living,  the  mummy  was  carried  across  on  a 
richly  adorned  bark  ;  a  priest  of  the  dead  recited 
the  prescribed  prayers  before  it  and  offered  incense. 
Friends  and  kinsmen,  men  as  well  as  women, 
accompanied  it  with  loud  cries  and  lamentations. 
When  the  boats  had  reached  the  opposite  bank,  the 
coffin  was  set  upon  a  sledge  drawn  by  cattle  and 
conveyed  to  the  city  of  the  dead.  When  the  long 
procession  of  mourners  had  arrived  at  the  entrance 
of  the  tomb,  the  mummy  was  once  more  taken  from 
the  coffin  and  placed  upright  before  the  gravestone 
by  a  priest  wearing  the  mask  of  the  jackal-headed 
Anubis,  the  god  of  the  dead.  While  the  relatives 
were  taking  their  last  farewell  of  the  departed,  the 
priests  repeated  their  prayers  and  prepared  him  for 
his  last  journey.  At  this  point  a  special  ceremony 
was  performed,  the  opening  of  the  mouth.     To  the 


Graves  and  Burials  157 


accompaniment  of  magic  formulae  the  mouth  of  the 
dead  was  opened  by  a  hook,  and  the  faculty  thus 
restored  to  him  of  making  use  of  his  mouth  whether 
for  speaking,  eating,  or  drinking."  After  this  the 
coffin  with  the  mummy  was  carried  to  the  opening 
of  the  grave-shaft  and  lowered  by  a  long  cord 
into  the  depths,  where  the  grave-diggers  received 
it. 

If  such  were  the  labour  and  care  bestowed  upon 
the  interment  of  a  human  being,  how  much  more 
elaborate  a  funeral  must  have  been  required  when  a 
"  living  god,"  that  is  a  sacred  animal,  had  been 
snatched  away  by  death  !  Even  in  the  most  ancient 
times  special  burial-places  seem  to  have  existed  in 
which  took  place  the  interment  of  the  animals  kept 
in  the  temples,  such  as  the  Apis-bulls  of  Memphis, 
the  Mnevis-bulls  of  Heliopolis,  the  sacred  rams 
of  Mendes.  In  the  case  of  Apis  we  know  that 
he  was  embalmed  just  like  a  man  and  buried 
with  great  pomp.  In  the  earlier  period,  the  Apis- 
bulls  were  laid  to  rest  in  special  graves ;  Ramses  II. 
caused  a  common  burying-place  to  be  laid  out 
for  them,  which  afterwards  became  a  much  fre- 
quented centre  of  pilgrimages.  This  was  the  so- 
called  "  Serapeum,"  situated  near  Sakkara  in  the 
desert,  of   which  the    huge   subterranean   passages 

'  Cp.  Erman,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt ,  pp.  320,  321. 


158    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


with  their  colossal  stone  sarcophagi  are  still  admired 
to-day/ 

In  the  later  period,  in  the  last  few  centuries  be- 
fore Christ,  when  the  worship  of  animals  was  con- 
tinually gaining  ground,  and  the  quality  of  sacredness 
attached  not  merely  to  the  individual  animals  which 
in  particular  localities  were  the  vehicle  of  divine 
manifestations,  but  to  the  whole  species,  it  came  to 
be  regarded  as  a  particularly  meritorious  act  to  give 
sepulture  to  all  dead  animals  of  that  species.  Large 
common  graves  were  employed  for  this  purpose, 
which  sometimes  contained  hundreds  of  animal 
mummies.  Thus  at  Bubastis,  for  example,  there 
is  a  large  cemetery  of  the  cats  worshipped  there ; 
at  Memphis,  numerous  burial-places  of  the  sacred 
ibises ;  at  Ombos,  in  Upper  Egypt,  large  graves  of 
crocodiles,  in  which  animals  both  old  and  young, 
from  six  to  ten  feet  long,  together  with  quite  little 
ones,  had  been  interred.  At  the  same  time,  on  par- 
ticular occasions,  a  sacred  animal  was  buried  in  a 
grave  of  its  own,  as  is  the  case  sometimes  with  one 
of  our  favourite  dogs,  and  received  not  only  a  coffin 
but  also  a  gravestone  with  an  inscription.  A  par- 
ticularly interesting  monument  of  this  kind  is  pos- 
sessed by  the  museum  at  Berlin,  interesting  chiefly 

'  Cp.  Mariette,  Le  Serapdum  de  Meviphis  ;  Baedeker's  Egypt  (5th 
edition),  p.  135. 


Graves  and  Burials  159 


for  this  reason,  that  it  was  set  up  by  a  Greek  domi- 
ciled in  Egypt.*  It  stood  above  the  grave  of  a  snake 
which  had  been  killed  by  an  unknown  person,  and 
contained  the  following  distich,  written,  it  must  be 
confessed,  in  somewhat  defective  Greek  : 

"  Thou  stranger,  halt  at   the   crossways,    before   the 

great  stone,  and  thou  wilt  find  it  bursting  with 

writing. 
Bewail  me  with  loud  lamentation,  me  the   sacred, 

long-living   snake   that  was   sent    to   the  lower 

world  by  wicked  hands. 
What  profit  hast  thou,  thou  worst  of  men,  that  thou 

didst  rob  me  of  this  life  ? 
For  my  brood  shall  be  fatal  to  thee  and  thy  children  ; 

for  in  me  thou  hast  killed  a  being  that  is  not 

alone  upon  earth. 
But  as  numerous  as  is  the  sand  upon  the  seashore  is 

the  race  of  animals  upon  earth,  and  verily  they 

will  send  thee  to  Hades  not  first  but  last,  after 

thou  hast  seen  with  thine  own  eyes  the  death  of 

thy  children." 

w  "X*  w 

We  have  now  come  to  the  end.  I  have  endeav- 
oured to  describe  to  you  in  broad  outline  the  rise 
and  fall  of  the  Egyptian  religion,  the  beliefs  held  by 
the  Egyptians  on  the  Last  Things,  their  worship  of 
the  gods  and  the  dead. 

And  now,  at  the  close  of  our  survey,  we  raise  a 

'  No.  7974  of  the  Berlin  Museum  ;  cp.  Atisfithrliches  Verzeiclmis 
der  Aegypt.  Alieriiimer  iind  Gipsahgiisse  (Berlin,  1899),  p.  339. 


i6o    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


question,  which  has  no  doubt  already  occurred  to 
you :  did  the  Egyptian  religion  ever  strike  root  out- 
side the  narrow  bounds  of  the  Nile-land,  did  it  exert 
any  perceptible  influence  upon  the  religions  of  other 
peoples ;  above  all,  for  this  touches  us  most  nearly, 
did  it  influence  Judaism  and  Christianity?  Is  it,  in 
a  word,  a  religion  of  great  significance  in  the  history 
of  the  world? 

In  the  second  millennium  before  Christ,  when  the 
Egyptian  armies  invaded  the  Soudan  and  penetrated 
Asia  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  when 
Egyptian  administration  was  introduced  into  the 
subjugated  countries  or  Egyptian  garrisons  stationed 
there — then  Egyptian  worship  was  also  carried  into 
regions  beyond  the  border.  Far  from  the  home- 
land sanctuaries  were  erected  to  the  gods  of  Egypt 
and  sacrifices  offered.  But  nowhere — except,  per- 
haps, during  the  short  period  of  the  heretic  King 
Amenophis  IV. — was  the  conquered  population, 
whether  of  negroes  or  Asiatics,  compelled  to  ab- 
jure their  own  native  gods  and  transfer  its  homage 
to  those  of  the  Egyptians.  Everywhere,  on  the 
contrary,  the  national  religions  were  left  without 
interference. 

Among  the  divinities  worshipped  in  foreign  lands 
the  first  place  was  naturally  occupied  by  the  Theban 
king  of   the  gods,  Amon-Re,  the  national  god  of 


Outside  Egypt  i6i 


the  new  Empire.  But  in  addition,  the  protecting 
deities  of  the  other  two  chief  cities  of  Egypt, 
HeHopoHs  and  Memphis,  received  special  reverence  ; 
the  gods  Re-Horus  and  Ptah.  In  these  divinities 
the  Egyptian  state  was  incarnate ;  the  worship  paid 
to  them  was  a  tribute  to  the  authority  of  Egypt 
over  the  conquered  countries.  It  was  therefore  but 
a  step  in  advance  when,  in  addition  to  these  gods  of 
the  Empire,  the  King  himself,  the  living  representa- 
tive of  the  Egyptian  power,  received  divine  honours. 
It  is  true  that  the  Egyptians  had  from  a  very  early 
period  regarded  the  Pharaoh  as  an  incarnation  of  the 
god  Horus,  or  as  a  "  son  of  the  Sun-god,"  and  in- 
deed had  designated  him  simply  as  the  "  good  god  " ; 
but  on  Egyptian  soil  the  King  had  never  been  the 
object  of  a  cult  during  his  lifetime.  There  was  no 
temple  in  which  his  image  had  been  set  up  by  the 
side  of  that  of  the  "  urban  god."  This  step  was  first 
ventured  upon  in  foreign  parts,  in  Nubia,  to  speak 
more  exactly,  for  as  far  as  Asia  is  concerned  we 
have  no  evidences  of  king-worship.  Chapels  were 
here  erected  to  the  King  and  sacrifices  instituted  in 
the  Holy  of  Holies.  In  a  Nubian  temple  we  see 
the  Pharaoh  enthroned  as  god  by  the  side  of  Amon, 
Ptah,  or  Re-Horus,  and  receiving  divine  honour.' 

'  Cp.  Erman,  Life   in   Aticient  Egypt,    p.   503  ;    A.  Moret,   Du 
caracth-e  rMgieux  de  la  Royaute  Pharaonhpie. 


i62    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


The  negro  inhabitants  of  Nubia,  who  at  the  time 
of  the  Egyptian  conquest  still  lay  sunk  in  barbarism, 
were  of  all  peoples  outside  Egypt  the  most  receptive 
of  Egyptian  civilisation  in  general.  By  a  gradual 
process  they  were  educated  and  Egypticised ;  at  the 
same  time,  without  any  external  compulsion,  the 
native  gods  were  displaced  by  Egyptian  divinities, 
or,  at  any  rate,  worshipped  side  by  side  with  them 
under  an  Egyptian  form.  In  Nubia  the  power  of 
the  priests  over  the  people  was  developed  to  a  still 
greater  extent  than  in  Egypt  itself.  After  a  sepa- 
rate empire,  independent  of  the  motherland,  had 
been  formed  on  the  Upper  Nile  about  the  year 
looo  EX.,  the  kings  at  the  head  of  it  came  entirely 
under  the  control  of  the  clergy.  No  enterprise,  so 
we  are  told,  could  be  begun  unless  the  consent  of 
the  gods,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  priests,  was  first  ob- 
tained. "The  kings  marched  into  the  field  when 
Zeus-Amon  commanded  them  through  his  oracle, 
and  they  went  wherever  he  sent  them."  ' 

All  the  ritual  precepts,  and  especially  the  dietary 
laws,  were  observed  by  the  ancient  Nubians  more 
strictly  than  by  the  Egyptians  themselves;  and  in 
regard  to  the  Nubian  King  Piankhi,  for  example, 
who,  about  the  eighth  century  B.C.  undertook  an  ex- 
pedition into  the  lower  Nile  valley,  we  learn  that 

'Herodotus,  ii.,  29. 


Outside  Egypt  163 


he  did  not  permit  the  native  princes  to  enter  the 
palace,  "because  they  were  unclean  and  ate  fish, 
which  is  an  abomination  to  the  palace." 

Accordingly,  in  the  period  when  religion  in  Egypt 
was  on  the  decline  and  the  power  of  the  clergy 
visibly  diminishing.  Nubia  was  more  Egyptian  than 
the  Egyptians  themselves ;  and  it  is  quite  intelligible 
that  Ethiopia  was  regarded  by  the  Egyptian  priests 
as  the  classic  land  of  the  orthodox  Egyptian  religion. 
These  facts  explain  how  the  Greek  authors  came  to 
adopt  the  fundamentally  false  view  that  Ethiopia 
was  the  cradle  of  the  whole  Egyptian  civilisation. 
With  this  civilisation  the  Egyptian  religion  subse- 
quently decayed  in  Nubia;  and  probably  not  much 
that  was  Egyptian  still  remained  there  when  in  the 
fourth  century  after  Christ  the  cross  was  planted 
south  of  the  cataracts  of  Assuan. 

Under  the  reign  of  the  sovereigns  of  the  New 
Kingdom  the  worship  of  the  Egyptian  national  god 
Amon-Re  had  been  carried  by  Egyptian  colonists 
into  the  oases  of  the  Libyan  desert,  situated  to  the 
west  of  the  Nile  valley,  and  was  maintained  there 
long  after  Amon  had  ceased  to  stand  at  the  head  of 
the  Egyptian  Pantheon.  In  the  oases  Kharge  and 
Bahriye,  the  oases  Magna  and  Parva  of  the  Romans, 
there  stood  sanctuaries  of  Amon  ;  but  they  were 
both  far  surpassed  in  celebrity  by  the  holy  place 


164    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


which  the  god  possessed  in  the  most  western  of  the 
oases — Sive,  the  special  oasis  of  Zeus-Amon.  Here, 
too,  was  to  be  found  an  oracle  of  the  god,  possibly 
modelled  on  the  Theban  pattern,  the  fame  of  which 
soon  reached  the  neighbouring  Libyans,  and  was 
carried  to  Cyrene,  and  even  as  far  as  Greece.  By  the 
time  of  Cyrus,  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  it  was  counted 
among  the  most  highly  regarded  oracles  of  the  ancient 
world.  The  splendour  of  its  reputation,  however, 
was  at  its  highest  in  the  year  331,  when  Alexander 
the  Great  undertook  his  romantic  expedition  to  it 
through  the  desert,  and  was  greeted  by  the  priests 
of  the  ram-headcd  Amon  as  a  son  of  the  god.' 

In  Syria  and  Palestine,  where  Egyptian  authority 
enjoyed  undisputed  supremacy  for  hundreds  of 
years  in  the  second  millennium  before  Christ,  Egyp- 
tian civilisation  had  also  exerted  its  influence, 
Egyptian  elements  invaded  the  art  of  the  Syrian 
lands,  and  entered  into  a  peculiar  combination 
with  the  more  ancient  Babylonian  elements  which 
had  hitherto  played  the  chief  part.  Egyptian  cults, 
too,  found  reception  in  the  cities  occupied  by  the 
Pharaoh's  troops ;  in  many  places  sanctuaries  were 
built  to  the  Egyptian  gods  ;  thus,  to  take  only  one 
example,  King  Ramses  III.  erected  a  temple  in 
Canaan  to  Amon,  the  god  of  the  Empire.     But  the 

'  Cp.  Steindorff,  Durch  die  LibyscJic  Wilstc  ziir  Amonsoase, 


Outside  Egypt  165 


worship  of  the  indigenous  Baalim  and  Ashtaroth 
suffered  no  injury  through  this  foreign  invasion  ;  on 
the  contrary,  they  received  additional  homage  from 
the  Egyptians  who  had  entered  Syria.  Thus,  accord- 
ing to  all  appearances,  the  Egyptian  religion  gained 
no  firm  footing  in  Asia,  and  at  the  moment  when  the 
last  garrison  was  withdrawn,  it  is  probable  that  the 
sacrifices  to  Egyptian  deities  came  to  a  sudden  end. 
Such  was  the  course  of  events  in  foreign  civilised 
countries,  but  it  was  probably  in  a  very  different 
manner  that  the  Egyptian  religion  influenced  such 
aliens  as  had  settled  in  the  Nile  valley,  where  both 
in  the  city  and  in  the  country  they  would  come  into 
contact  with  the  Egyptian  priests,  Egyptian  gods, 
and  modes  of  worship  governed  by  fixed  rules  dating 
from  the  remotest  antiquity.  Your  thoughts,  like 
mine,  will,  no  doubt,  at  once  turn  to  the  Israelites, 
who,  according  to  the  biblical  narrative,  dwelt  for  a 
long  period  as  strangers  in  the  Egyptian  land  of 
Goshen  ;  whose  great  law-giver,  Moses,  is  said  to 
have  received  his  education  at  the  Pharaohs'  court, 
and  to  have  learned  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians. 
In  touching  here  on  the  residence  of  the  children  of 
Israel  in  Egypt,  and  discussing  the  question  of  the 
influence  exercised  by  the  Egyptian  religion  and 
civilisation  upon  the  Hebrews,  I  shall  be  obliged  to 
confine  myself  to  the  most  necessary  facts.     It  is 


1 66    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


not  my  intention,  in  view  of  the  controversy  on 
Babel  and  the  Bible  which  has  agitated  so  many 
people  in  Germany,  and  perhaps  also  in  your  own 
country,  to  start  another  one  on  Memphis  and  AIoscs. 
Let  me  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  residence 
of  Joseph  in  Egypt  is  not  mentioned  in  any  passage 
in  Egyptian  literature,  and  that  even  the  name  of 
Moses  nowhere  occurs  in  the  inscriptions.  On  these 
grounds  the  historical  character  of  the  events  nar- 
rated with  so  much  detail  in  the  Bible  has  been 
called  in  question  by  various  modern  scholars  and 
relegated  by  them  to  the  realm  of  legend.  In  my 
opinion  that  is  very  much  too  sceptical  a  view.  It 
is  true  that  those  narratives  in  the  books  of  Moses 
are  embellished  by  an  abundance  of  accessory  fiction, 
by  legendary  features  which  are  not  found  here 
alone — I  will  only  refer  to  the  story  of  Joseph 
and  Potiphar's  wife,  and  to  Joseph's  dreams, — but  on 
the  other  hand  the  sections  of  the  Pentateuch  relat- 
ing to  Israel  in  Egypt  reveal  so  excellent  a  knowledge 
of  the  conditions  in  ancient  Egypt,  they  occupy, 
further,  so  wide  a  space  in  the  ancient  Israelitish 
tradition  that  we  ought  not  without  further  parley 
to  eliminate  them  as  unhistorical.'  It  is  certainly 
no  easy  task  to  eliminate  authentic  history  from  the 

'  Cp.  Spiegelberg,  Der  Aufenthalt  Israels  in  Aegypten  im  Lichse 
der  acgypiischen  Monumeiite  (Strassburg,  1904). 


Outside  Egypt  167 


legendary  accounts  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  no  easier 
than  it  would  be  to  tabulate  historical  events  of  the 
Nibelungenlied  without  previous  knowledge  of  the 
migration  of  the  Nations.  To  the  best  of  my  be- 
lief we  ought  hardly  to  assume  as  historic  facts  more 
than  the  existence  of  Hebrew  tribes  in  Egypt  and  the 
personality  of  Moses.  It  is  impossible  to  assign  dates 
for  the  sojourn  and  Exodus  of  the  Israelites ;  it  must 
suffice  us  to  place  these  in  the  second  half  of  the 
second  millennium  before  the  Christian  Era. 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  Hebrews  carried  away 
with  them  from  Egypt  many  manners  and  cus- 
toms derived  from  the  civilisation  of  that  country. 
Among  the  "  gods  that  brought  Israel  out  of  Egypt " 
was  there  not  the  sacred  bull  worshipped  so  uni- 
versally on  the  banks  of  the  Nile — "  the  golden 
calf"?  Moses  himself,  the  founder  of  the  Jewish 
religion,  tells  us  at  once  by  his  name  that  he 
had  been  in  the  closest  contact  with  Egyptian 
civilisation.  For  the  name  Moses  is  Egyptian,  and 
contains  the  same  element,  Mose,  "  child,"  which 
we  find  in  numerous  names  of  persons  of  the 
time  of  the  New  Kingdom,  compounded  with 
names  of  the  gods:  A7;ien-mose,  "Amon's  child," 
Thut-mose,  "  child  of  the  god  Thout,"  or  Ah-mose, 
which  we  have  in  the  Greek  forms  Amosis  and 
Amasis,  the  ''  child  of  the  moon." 


1 68    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


That  the  rehgion  founded  by  Moses  was  influenced 
by  Egyptian  behefs,  that  the  law  and  the  worship 
of  the  IsraeHtes  contained  numerous  Egyptian  ele- 
ments, is  therefore  very  probable.  Thus  the  new 
holy  receptacle  introduced  by  Moses,  the  ark  of 
Yahweh,  was  certainly  not  independent  of  Egyptian 
models,  the  portable  barks  already  described,  in  the 
chapel  of  which  stood  the  image  of  the  god.  In 
place  of  the  barks,  which  stood  in  a  special  relation 
to  the  Nile,  we  have  the  ark  used  for  worship  in 
the  desert.* 

What  proportion  of  these  ancient  Egyptian  ideas 
survived  in  the  monotheistic  religion  of  Israel  as 
purified  by  the  prophets  is  no  doubt  a  question 
which  we  should  find  hard  to  answer  in  detail.  In 
particular  I  should  like  to  warn  you  against  a  view 
once  widely  held,  namely,  that  the  monotheism  of 
Israel  was  a  theological  legacy  from  the  priests  of 
Heliopolis;  that  the  crude  monotheism  of  Ameno- 
phis  IV.  exercised  an  influence  over  the  Israelites. 
This  is  an  idle  conjecture,  with  nothing  in  the  his- 
tory of  religion  to  support  it.  It  is  very  possible, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  in  the  poetical  portions  of 
the  Bible  many  an  Egyptian  phrase  may  have  been 
preserved,  that  whole  departments  of  biblical  litera- 
ture— I  am  thinking  more  particularly  of  proverbial 

'  Cp.  Guthe,  Geschichte  des  Voikes  Israel  (2d  edition),  p.  39. 


Outside  Egypt  169 


poetry — may  bear  traces  of  Egyptian  influence  in 
their  form.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  there  are  points  of  close  agreement 
between  the  Babylonian  and  the  P^ebrew  hymns.  It 
is  thus  by  no  means  easy  to  adjust  the  respective 
claims  of  Babel  and  Memphis ;  what  is  best  in  the 
poetry  of  the  Bible  belongs  without  any  doubt  to 
Israel  itself. 

It  was  again  in  all  probability  no  slight  influence 
that  was  exerted  by  the  Egyptian  religion  upon 
later  Judaism,  in  the  period  of  Greek  rule,  when 
numerous  Jewish  communities  were  established  in 
Alexandria  and  other  Egyptian  cities.  In  this  in- 
stance, it  would  appear  that  eschatological  notions 
were  the  chief  contribution  of  Egypt  to  late  Juda- 
ism, and  so,  indirectly,  to  certain  Christian  circles. 
When,  for  example,  we  find  in  the  early  Christian 
EHas- Apocalypse  a  mention  of  a  bronze  gate  to  the 
lower  world,  we  think  involuntarily  of  the  fiery  gate 
of  the  Egyptian  Hades,'  Further,  the  late  Jewish 
and  Christian  faith  in  a  resurrection  seems  to  have 
arisen  out  of  peculiar  mystical  conceptions,  by  which 
we  are  strongly  reminded  of  the  Egyptian  ideas 
concerning  Osiris  and  his  resuscitation.  There,  too, 
the  king,  and  after  him  every  individual  human  be- 
ing, are  presented  to  us  as  having  become  one  with 

'  Cp.  Maspero,  Journal  des  Savants,  Fauvier,  iSgg,  p.  sg/". 


1 70    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


the  deity,  as  having  passed  through  the  same  vicis- 
situdes as  the  god  himself.  But  here,  again,  it  is 
certain  that  Egyptian  ideas  were  not  solely  respon- 
sible for  the  development  of  eschatological  beliefs, 
and  at  the  present  time  it  is  impossible  to  isolate 
the  purely  Egyptian  elements. 

It  is  with  much  greater  clearness  that  we  are  able 
to  trace  the  progress  of  the  Egyptian  gods  through 
the  Graeco-Roman  world.  As  early  as  the  third  cent- 
ury B.C.  Egyptian  cults  were  imported  into  Greece, 
particularly  the  new  divinity  Serapis  and  the  circle 
of  gods  connected  with  Osiris  :  Isis,  her  son  Harpo- 
crates,  "  the  child  Horus,"  as  well  as  Anubis.  From 
Greece  they  soon  found  their  way  to  Italy  and  Rome, 
where  they  were  hospitably  received.  The  foreign 
mysterious  observances  pleased  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  only  became  the  more  popular  when 
recognition  was  refused  them  on  the  part  of  the 
state  and  they  could  only  be  practised  in  secret. 
Finally,  in  the  reign  of  Caracalla,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  third  century  A.D.,  the  foreign  cults  were, 
after  manifold  vicissitudes,  tolerated  within  the 
city  of  Rome.  The  Emperor  himself  built  a  mag- 
nificent temple  to  Serapis  on  the  Quirinal ;  and  the 
Egyptian  gods  began  to  play  a  leading  part  in  re- 
ligious life,  the  importance  of  which  may  perhaps 
be  best  understood  from  the  bitterness  with  which 


Outside  Egypt  171 


these  particular  forms  of  pagan  worship  were  subse- 
quently attacked  by  the  Christians/ 

The  religion  of  Egypt,  like  that  of  Hellas,  was 
finally  overcome  by  Christianity.  But  the  victori- 
ous faith  retained  traces,  both  internal  and  external, 
of  both  these  precursors.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
in  the  religious  history  of  the  world  the  Egyptian 
religion  is  entitled  to  the  prominent  position  which 
it  occupies. 

Theodor  Mommsen  says  somewhere  ^  that  by  the 
side  of  the  works  of  Hellenic  art  the  Egyptian  idol 
gives  us  much  the  same  impression  as,  say,  the 
shoes  produced  at  a  wedding  which  have  been  worn 
by  the  bride  in  her  infancy.  And  what  is  true  of 
the  idol  holds  equally  of  the  religion,  when  we 
compare  it  with  Greek  philosophy  or  Christianity. 
According  to  what  we  can  gather  from  Egyp- 
tian texts,  the  Egyptian  religion  contained  no 
deep  mysteries ;  the  last  word  of  wisdom  was  not 
there  spoken,  as  the  Greek  thinkers  once  fondly 
imagined.  Never  will  the  figures  of  the  Egyptian 
pantheon,  with  their  animal  heads  and  their  quaint 
symbolisms,  become  as  familiar  to  us  as  the  gods  of 
Olympus,  the  companions  of  our  youth.     But  that 

'  Cp.  Wissowa,  Religion  und  Kultus  der  Romer,  p.  1^1  ff. 
''■  Sitzungsberichte   der   Berliner   Akadeniie    der     Wissenschaften, 
1895.  p.  745. 


1 72    The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 


even  in  the  channels  of  Egyptian  faith  and  observ- 
ance there  flowed  a  current  of  true  religion,  power- 
ful enough  to  carry  away  minds  of  no  mean  calibre 
— so  much,  I  confidently  hope,  has  been  brought 
home  to  you  by  what  you  have  heard  from  me. 
And  I  conclude  with  Goethe's  immortal  words  : 

"  God's  is  the  Orient, 
God's  is  the  Occident." 


INDEX. 


Abusir,  76. 

Abydos,  11,  31,  89,  139. 

Achmim,  139. 

Actiuni  (battle  of),  15. 

Ages,  5. 
J   Alexander  the  Great,  15,  114. 
i    Alexandria,  73. 

Altar,  78. 

Anienemes,  12. 

Amen-hotep,  59. 

Amenophis,  13. 

Amenophis  III.,  56. 

Amenophis  IV.,  57-59,  63, 
64,  66,  160,  168. 

Amenothes,  son  of  Hapu,  71. 

Amentet,  139. 

Amon,  Amon-Re,  13,  19,  29, 
49,  52  ff.,  78,  85;  national 
god  of  Egypt,  52;  high 
priests  of,  96, 105  ;  property 
of,  105 ;  oracle,  114;  cult  in 
foreign  lands,  160  ff. 

Amulets,  155. 

Anat,  69. 

Animal  mummies,  iSI  ff- 

Anubis,  118,  156,  170. 

Anukis,  29. 

Aphrodite,  23. 

Apis  (sacred  bull),  25,  73,  80, 

157- 
Apollo,  23. 
Arabian  intruders,  8. 
Ark  of  Yahweh,  168. 
Arsinoe,  80. 
Artemis,  23. 
Asenath,  40. 


Ashera,  23. 
Ashtaroth,  165. 
Asklepios,  72. 
Assuan,  9,  loi,  138. 
Assyria,  14. 
Assyrians,  14. 
Astarte,  69. 
Athena,  23. 
Athribis,  48. 
Aton,  57,  58. 
Atum,  41,  47,  49,  66. 
Auaris,  68. 
Augustus,  15. 

B. 


Baal,  Baalim,  68,  69,  164. 

Babel  and  the  Bible,  166. 

Babylon,  13. 

Bahriye,  163. 

Bastet,  54,  89. 

Behdet,  9,  30. 

Bekenkhons  (high  priest),  98. 

Bes,  21. 

Bint- Anat  (princess),  69. 

Book  of  that  whicJi  is  in  the 

Lower  World,  133. 
Book  of  the  Dead,  4,  133,  151. 
Book  of_  the  Gates,  133. 
Bubastis,  54,  71,  77,  89,  90, 

158;   feast  of,  89. 
Biirial,  156;  modes  of ,  138/"/.; 

places,  139;  -place  of  Apis, 

157;  -place  of  ibises,  158. 
Busiris,  21,  89,  155. 
Buto,  10,  23,  34,  89. 
Byblos,  33. 


173 


174 


Index 


Cambyses,  15. 

Canaan,  164. 

Canopic  jars,  149. 

Charms,  107  /f. 

Cheops,  II,  142. 

Chephren,  11. 

Children  of   Horus,  48,   117, 

149. 
Children  of  the  god  Khenti- 

Kheti,  48. 
Christianity,  16. 
Chronology,  6. 
Coffins,  151. 
Cosmogony,  36. 
Counter-reformation,  64. 
Creation-legends,  2>5  ff- 
Cyrene,  164. 

D. 

Damons,  21,  127. 

Damanhur,  9. 

Days,    lucky    and    unlucky, 

112. 
Decoration  of  Mastabas,  144. 
Deir-el-bahri  (temple).  Si. 
Delta,  7. 

Dendera,  18,  20,  49. 
Difficulties  of  interpretation, 

4- 
Diodorus,  i. 
Dionysos,  32. 
Divination,  114. 
"Doctrine"     of     Amenophis 

IV.,  60  ff. 
Dynasties,  5. 

E. 

Edfu,  17. 

Egyptian  history,  5. 

Egyptian  influence  upon  Bib- 
lical literature,  168. 

Egyptian  religion,  in  Nubia, 
161     ff.;      in     Syria     and 


Palestine,  164;  influence 
upon  the  Hebrews,  165  ff.; 
influence  upon  later  Juda- 
ism and  Christianity,  169; 
in  the  Graeco- Roman  world, 
171. 

Egyptian  Renaissance,  15. 

Eileithyiaspolis,  10. 

Ekh-en-Aton  (King),  59. 

Ekhut-Aton  (town),  58. 

El-Amarna,  57,  59,  65. 

Elephantine,  29,  36,  45,  54, 
102. 

Elias- Apocalypse,  169. 

Elkab,  17,  22,  31. 

Enneads  (great  Ennead  of 
On,  etc.),  47,  48,  67. 

Ethiopia,  14,  163. 

Ethiopians,  14. 

Etymology,  18. 

Eudoxus,  46. 

Euphrates,  13,  53. 

Exodus,  167. 


Fayoum,  18,  22,  27,  52,  56, 

T.  77- 

Feasts,  88. 

Fetishism,  23,  24. 

Field  of  rushes,  125. 

Field  of  sacrifices,  125. 

Foreign  deities,  69. 

Funeral   customs  and    rites, 

138  #. 
Funeral  furniture,   141,   143, 

151- 
Funerary  statuettes,  154. 


G. 


Geb,  31,  36,  47,  102,  129. 

Gebelen,  27. 

Gods,   in    human    form,    24; 

migrations  of,  2  7  ;  toilet  of 

the,  87. 
Goshen,  165. 


Index 


175 


Grave,  138  ff.;  graves  of 
Osiris,    34;    of    crocodiles, 

158. 
Greece,  14. 

H. 

Hall  of  columns,  78. 

Hall  of  Jvistice,  131. 

Haremhab,  65. 

Harpies,  122. 

Harpokrates,  71,  170. 

Harsiesis,  47. 

Hathor,  18,  20,  43  //.,  49,  69. 

Hatshepsowet,  81. 

Hebrews,  165. 

Hecatasus,  6. 

Hehu,  50. 

Hehut,  50. 

Heket,  25. 

Heliopolis,  9,  25,  36,  40  ff-, 
66,  67,  84,  131,  161;  cos- 
mogonic  system  of,  47  ^. 

Helios,  72. 

Hera,  23. 

Hermes,  20,  34. 

Hermonthis,  22. 

Hermupolis,  20;  cosmogonic 
system  of,  49. 

Herodotus,  i,  6,  46,  74,  88, 

93.  99.  113,  149,  ISO- 
Heroes,  cult  of,  71. 
High  priests,  13  ;  insignia,  98 ; 

of  Amon,  105. 
Hippopotami,  153. 
Holy  of  Holies,  82,  85. 
Horapollo,  2. 
Horus,   18,   20,   26  ff.,   45  ff., 

70,  82,  102,  107  ff.,  128  ff. 
Horus  of  Edfu,  48.     See  also 

Re-Horus. 
Human  sacrifices,  141. 
Hyksos,  12,  52,  68. 
Hymns,  90;  to  Aton,  60  ff.; 

to  the  sun,  62;   to  Amon, 

66,  91;  to  Thout,  91. 


HypogcFum-,  146. 
Hypostyle,  78. 

I. 

Images  (divine),  83. 

Imhotep,  71,  loi,  102. 

Inscriptions  of  temples,  81; 
inscription  of  the  Seven 
Years'  Famine,  10 1. 

Isis,  32,  47,  71,  102,  III,  129, 
170;  legends  of ,  106. 

Israel  in  Egypt,  165. 

J- 

Joseph  in  Egypt,  166. 
Judges  of  the  dead,  132. 

K. 

Ka,  122. 

Kadesh,  69. 

Karnak,  79. 

Kek,  so. 

Keket,  50. 

Kharge,  163. 

Khartoum,  6. 

Khemmis,  139. 

Khenu,  27. 

Kheperi,  42,  67. 

Khmunu,  49. 

Khnum,  18,  22,  29,  36,  54, 
lOI  ff. 

Khons,  22,  29,  59,  78. 

King,  as  god,  62  ;  as  mediator 
for  the  people  in  the  tem- 
ple, 84;  worship  of,  161. 

Kingdoms,  5. 

Koptos,  18  ff.,  54,  77- 

Kronos,  32. 


Labyrinth,  12. 

Lagidas,  15. 

Lay  priests,  94. 

Libyans,  14. 

Life  after  death,  115  ^. 


176 


Index 


Lotus- flower,  38. 
Lower  world,  126. 
Luxor,  9,  79,  80. 

M. 

Maat,  priests  of,  92. 

Magic  figures,  153,  154- 

Manetho,  5,  19,  72. 

Masseba,  23. 

Mastaba,  143  ff. 

Medinet-el-Fayoum,  77. 

Memorial  stone,  141. 

Memorial  tombs  of  the  kings, 
146  ff. 

Memphis,  11,  18,  20,  22,  25, 
26,  29,  36,  49.  51.  53.  56, 
57.  67,  73.  80,  139,  157. 
158,  161. 

Mendes,  22,  157. 

Menes,  5,  10,  11. 

Menezet  (bark  of  the  Sun- 
god),  42. 

Menu,  42. 

Mesektet  (bark  of  the  Sun- 
god),  42. 

Middle  Kingdom,  12,  52. 

Min,  18,  19,  21,  23,  24,  54; 
feast  of,  89. 

Mnevis-bull,  25,  157. 

Moeris,  18. 

Mommsen,  171. 

Monotheistic  sentiment,  67. 
-  Monotheistic    state  -  religion, 

50/7- 
Montu,  22. 
Moses,    165,    166;    name    of, 

167. 
Mummies,  149,  150- 
Mut,  22,  29,  S4'.59..7S. 
Mycencean  civilisation,  13. 
Mycerinus,  11. 


N. 


Nakada,  18. 
Nefertem,  29. 


Negroes,  6. 

Neit,  18,  36,  49,  71. 

Nekhbet,  22. 

Neklieb,  10. 

Nephthys,  32,  47,  102,  112, 

129. 
New  Kingdom,  13,  53. 
Newoserre,  76. 
Nile,  6,  35,  37;  cradle  of,  102; 

Nile-god,  10 1. 
North  Land,  9. 
Nu,  50. 
Nubia,     12,     14;      Egyptian 

deities  in,  161. 
Nun,  36,  44. 
Nunu,  50. 
Nut,  32,  36,  47,  50,  102. 


O. 


Oases  in  the  Libyan  desert, 

163. 
Oasis  of  Amon,  114,  164. 
Obelisk,  41,  84. 
Offerings  to  the  gods,  87,  88. 
Ogdoas  (of  Hermupolis),  49. 
Old  Kingdom,  11. 
Old  Testament,  2. 
Ombos,  9,  18,  27,  31,  67,  158. 
On,  9,  40,  46. 
Orion,  37. 
Osiris,  31  ff.,  46,  47.  7o,  89, 

102,  112,  118,  130  ff.,  170; 

legends,  31,  46,  67,  89,  106, 

128  //.;  ritual  of,  85;  realm 

of,  130. 
Osiris- Apis,  73. 
Osorapis,  73. 

P. 

Palestine,  164. 

Patrons  of  the  state,  30;    of 

the  dead,  118. 
Pekhet,  22,  54. 
Pentatetich,  166. 
Pessimism,  135. 


Index 


177 


Pharaoh,  30;  see  also  King. 

Phike,  72. 

Philosophy,  3. 

Piankhi,  84,  162. 

Plato,  46,  123. 

Plutarch,  2,  19,  32,  45. 

Political  development,  8. 

Potipherah,  40. 

Prehistoric  Semitic  conquest, 
8. 

Priestesses,  93. 

Priesthood,  of  Heliopolis,  46, 
168;  in  the  earliest  times, 
92 ;  under  the  Middle  King- 
dom, 93;  organisation,  93, 
94;  under  the  New  King- 
dom, 95;  of  Thebes,  96; 
costume  of  the,  98,  99; 
hereditary,  100. 

Priests,  85;  see  also  Priest- 
hood. 

Primitive  religion  of  Egypt, 
16,  17. 

IlpdvaoZ,  78. 

Proverbial  poetry,  168,  169. 

Psammetichus,  14,  80. 

Ptah,  18,  24,  26,  29,  36,  49, 
53.56,67,72,99;  property 
of,  105;  worship  of,  in  for- 
eign lands,  161. 

Ptolemies,  15. 

Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  72. 

Ptolemy  Soter,  son  of  Lagus, 

IS.  72. 

Punt,  21,  81. 

Pylon,  77,  81. 

Pyramids,  141  ff.;  of  Ghizeh, 

II,  76. 
Pyramid-texts,  in,  133,  142, 

151- 
Pythagoras,  123. 


Ramessidse,  13. 
Ramses  II.,  97,  157. 
Ramses  III.,  104,  164. 


Re,   36  ff.,  67;  property  of, 

105.;  legends  of,  106  ff. 
Re-Horus,  53,  56,  57,  63,  67, 

68;   worship  of,  in  foreign 

lands,  161. 
Religious  literature,  3. 
Reshep,  69. 
Resurrection,  169. 
Rhea,  32. 
Ritual,  85. 
Rock-tombs,     146;      of    the 

kings,  143. 
Roman  emperors,  15. 
Royal  tombs,  in  the  earliest 

periods,    140;    in   the   old 

empire,  141  ^.;  in  the  new 

empire,  146  ff. 


Sacred  animals,  21  ^. 

Sacred  boat,  79. 

Sacred  rams,  157. 

Sacred  stake,  155. 

Sacred  stones,  21,  23. 

Sacred  trees,  21,  23. 

Sacrifices  for  the  dead,  117. 

Sais,  14,  18,  36,  49,  71,  89. 

Sakkara,  71,  157. 

Sanctuaries.     See  Temple. 

Satis,  29. 

Scarabaeus,  38. 

Sekhebu,  51. 

Sekhmet,  18,  20,  22,  25,  29, 

54- 
Semites,  8. 

Semitic  immigrants,  16. 
Serapeum,  157. 
Serapis,  73,   170;    temple  in 

Rome,  170. 
Serd&b,  145. 
Sesostris,  12. 
Set,  18,  30,  46,  47,  58,  67,  68, 

70,     112,     128^.;     special 

worship  of,  67,  70. 
Setekh,  18;  see  also  Set. 
Sethos  (I),  13,  68,  104. 


178 


Index 


Setnakht,  68. 

Shmun,  20. 

Show,  35,  44,  47,  102. 

Silsile,  27. 

Sinope,  72. 

Sirius,  37. 

Siut,  22,  48. 

Sive,  114,  164. 

Snake-charms,  iii. 

Sobek,  18,  22,  24,  27,  52,  56, 
80. 

Sobek,  sacred  lake  of,  80. 

Sokaris,  118. 

Soothsaying,  113. 

Sopdet,  37. 

Sothis,  37. 

Soudan,  53. 

Soul,  121. 

Soul-birds,  121. 

South,  9. 

Speos  Artemidos,  22. 

Sphinxes,  77. 

Stars,  35. 

Statues  of  the  gods  and 
Pharaohs,  74  jf.;  of  the 
deceased,  145. 

Sun,  36.  * 

Sun-god,  20,  127,  128;  prefer- 
ential worship  of,  51. 

Sun-god  of  Heliopolis,  41  ff. 

Sun-myths,  43. 

Sun-temple  of  Abusir,  76. 

Syene,  102,  139. 

Syria,  13,  164. 

T. 

Tanis,  68,  77. 

Tefnut,  44,  47. 

Tell-el-Amarna,  139. 

Temenos,  77. 

Temple,  oldest  form,  75;  of 
the  Old  Kingdom,  75;  of 
the  Middle  Kingdom,   77; 


type  of,  77;  -reliefs,  81; 
-decoration,  84;  -endow- 
ments, 10 1. 

Temple  of  the  Pyramids,  142. 

Temple  of  the  Sun  in  Abusir, 

75.  76. 
Tetu,  21. 
Thebes,  12,  19,  22,  29,  49,  52, 

54,  59-  70,  77.  78, 139.  147. 

156. 
Theodosius  the  Great,  21. 
Thinis,  11. 
Thout,  20,  25,  34,  45,  48,  50, 

58,  82,  107,  129. 
Thutmosis,  13. 
Thutmosis  III.,  104. 
Tombs,  equipment  of,   147. 
Transmigration,  123. 
Triads,  29. 
Tut-enkh-Amon,  65. 
Tut-enkh-aton,  64. 
Twet,  35,  126,  130. 
Typhon,  32,  70. 

U. 

Urban  deities,  17  ff. 
Utensils  of  the  temples,  83. 

W. 

Wep-wet,  22,  48. 

World,  35. 

Worship  of  animals,  158. 

Z. 

Zeus,  24,  70. 

Zeus-Amon,  162;  oracle,  114. 

Zeus- Hades,  72. 

Zoan,  68. 

Zoser,  71,  loi. 


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